Black Bird: Retribution
by Aki Vos
Summary: Continuation to Black Bird. Sasuke and Naruto start college, but not is all as it seems. While Sasuke is preoccupied with hunting Madara, Naruto's busy trying to have a normal life with his long lost father. How will their love survive? AU
1. Good Morning Sunshine!

**It's later then expected, but here is the first chapter of Retribution, continuation of Black Bird. To understand, you will have to read Black Bird. Enjoy.

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The two lay snuggled under a thin sheet with a small fan going in circles to promote cooler air, a suitcase and a large duffle bag at the end of the bed. Since the Black Birds had the house renovated, it was much more tolerable in the summer months which were now drawing to a fast close and beginning the college careers for the four youngest members. Being able to sleep easy Naruto abruptly turned over and hit his head against Sasuke's waking both up with prompt moaning. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked over at the clock reading 10:45. He starred at the numbers on the green digital until it hit him. "The alarm didn't go off at nine."

"I turned it o…" Naruto yawned and closed his arms around the now 18 year old Uchiha. Naruto never saw the point of waking up at the same time, especially during the summer when he actually could sleep in. Naruto lick his lips and began to fall back asleep but Sasuke shook him. "Alright, I'll stop turning off the damn alarm, but I need to sleep more."

"Naruto, do you remember why we had to wake up at nine today?" Sasuke waited a minute his red eyes glaring down at the sleeping man besides him. Naruto just shrugged and scratched at his normal morning beard. The question proposed by Sasuke was soon overridden with thoughts of shaving. Sasuke sighed. "It's September…we have to go to college and set up our dorm rooms, and get our final schedules… Naruto we have school today."

"All my classes are after three. Have fun with morning advanced…" He yawned again and stretched out the muscles in his back like a cat. "Whatever it is, Jiraiya teaches it. Ha, you have to put up with that old pervert."

There was a knock at the door, three rapid pounds, followed by a female voice growling and Tayuya opening the door. "Up already! I made breakfast twenty minutes ago and it's going to…!"

"Tay, calm down." Jugo said placing a hand on her head and pulling her forehead to his lips. He turned his attention back to the boys. "Suigetsu ready to leave in ten minutes, I suggest you hurry."

Sasuke smiled, his point now proven. "This is why…"

"Alarms are good, sleeping in is bad, blah, blah, blah." Naruto said getting up and stretching out more. Jugo quickly cover Tayuya's eyes and shoved her out the door, Naruto watched questioning the action until a breeze had hit him in a delicate place. "I'm not wearing anything, am I?"

"Just try to remember pants in college, Naruto." Jugo shook his head, the red locks bouncing around wildly. He shut the door and Naruto just turned to Sasuke and went bright red. He laughed and waited for his lover to give the reassuring 'dumbass' and shake his head with a little smile. Instead Sasuke got up grabbed his boxers, pants, shirt, belt, socks and shoes and headed into their private bathroom. Naruto stood there naked for a second, confused and worried, until out of the open door he head Sasuke mock him.

Naruto smiled and picked up his pants from off the floor and began struggling to get them on. As he finished Sasuke walked out, completely dressed and groomed with his organized bag of grooming items. Naruto grabbed his shirt quickly and opened the door. "So, what do you think Jiraiya's going to be like as a teacher?"

"I'll reserve my judgment for a while. He may be a pervert, but he does know about literature." Naruto slipped the shirt on, sporting his normal bright orange, and grabbed his bag strongly. Sasuke sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully stored away the bag in his suitcase and zipped it closed tight. Sasuke sighed. "At least he agrees that Twilight sucks. At least I'm not that gay."

"You're weird sometimes." Naruto muttered under his breath so Sasuke would take it as an off hand comment. Naruto smiled, the bag heavy with a tv and several systems for games, and began out the door. "Off to college we go!"

"You actually sound excited!" Karin said rushing down with a box of her final items. They included purple wallpaper and tools for putting the color up. She smiled. "I don't know why you're happy about harder classes."

"Parties, and … Okay, so there will be parties." Naruto said as he and Karin headed down the stairs leaving Sasuke in their room. Naruto really didn't go through the morning period as Sasuke had. That was technically their last night of sleeping in their king bed, in their room, in Black Bird. That was their last night sleeping side by side, their skin touching, waking to see the blond hair shift in the light of the morning sun. Sasuke sighed and hung his head. He ran his hand through his hair and felt something light on his back.

Sasuke raised his head to see Suigetsu with a thin strap bag standing in front of him with his longer hair. Suigetsu tilted his head. Sasuke shook. Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine, I promised."

"Why don't you and Naruto just move into your place? I thought Itachi…" Sasuke stood up and grabbed his bags. "Didn't Itachi say they wouldn't come around the mansion."

"He said Kisame would keep an eye on it, but it's still dangerous. If I had someone who could help me, then yes, we'd be there. I wish he could just move in there." Sasuke said and grabbed his suitcase. "Let's go. I've got an hour to get set up and get to my first class."

"Don't worry about setting up the room, I've brought enough band posters you won't have any room to decorate." Suigetsu tried to say in a comforting manner. He walked with Sasuke down to the large van and they began tossing their items in next to Karin's bright purple suitcase. Suigetsu stuck out his tongue at her and she bit it quickly before sticking hers back out as a retort. "Alright Daph, you need to go outside of purple."

"I'm not that bad, look, I'm wearing black, see." Karin said spinning around in a small dress. She moved to the front with Suigetsu to leave Naruto and Sasuke organizing their stuff. Naruto lifted his bag in the back and watched as Sasuke carefully slid in his suitcase then found a way to fasten it to a wall.

"Suigetsu, we're taking the 'Vet." Sasuke said shutting the doors. Naruto stood confused thinking they were going to be hitching with Suigetsu but followed Sasuke anyway to the garage he built. The garage was built in place of the old empty building in which they used to enter from. Sasuke reached in his pocket and clicked the button. The door opened revealing his Corvette and Jugo's beetle. The two dashed for the car, Naruto winning the race. "How do you beat me, every single time?"

"Because, I have a winning personality." Naruto said clapping his arms together behind his head. He relaxed until Sasuke started the car and put on his seat belt. He paused and waited for Naruto to realize he had to do the same. "What?"

"Seat-belt." Sasuke said and pointed it. Naruto quickly grabbed it and giggled. "Seriously, do I have to put instructions everywhere for you?"

"It's becoming a possibility." Naruto said and watched as Sasuke drove away in silence. He stayed that way to the end of the street. "Sas, you okay? You're all, super quiet and… I don't know, sad. What's up?"

"I'm just not that thrilled to be going to college, you can ask Itachi, I was the same way at the beginning of high school. I just don't like change." Sasuke said and gripped the steering wheel tighter. He snorted quickly and his phone rang. Naruto quickly reached over and dug it out of Sasuke's jeans.

"Hello… He's driving, yeah, a bit. Oh no, that's a bad idea. That's a worse idea. That'd work. Yeah, they don't have one, but I assume… Oh, you're buying it right now. Yeah okay. Yep, well be there in five minutes." Sasuke kept driving but kept giving Naruto strange glances. "That'd be funny. He can cook with it, I'm positive. He didn't mean to set that on fire, I swear. Yea, bye."

Naruto turned off the iPhone and shoved it away as nothing had happened. Sasuke rolled to a stop at a red light and turned to him. "Who was that?"

"Oh, Itachi, he's buying you and Suigetsu a microwave. He's also seeing about a fire extinguisher." Naruto said with a goof of a smile on his face. Sasuke sighed. "I know, you told him not to get you anything. He's a brother, he does that."

"He needs to save his money or take some of mine. He's too stubborn to do anything like that though." Sasuke sighed again and drove out of the green light and turned onto campus driving towards the dormitories. Sasuke reached their building and pulled into the space next to Suigetsu van. Sasuke unbuckled, slightly pissed off and shut the door as he walked over and opened up the van. Naruto shook his head got out. He silently walked up behind Sasuke and clamped his hands around his eyes. "Naruto… I will be fine. I promised, I'm just upset at Itachi…"

"And?" Naruto kept his hands up against Sasuke's face covering the red eyes and waiting for him to talk. "What's up?"

"I'm barely going to see you anymore. You got different class times, we're not even in the same room." Sasuke complained. He knew the last part was useless because it was campus policy, also both Sasori and Jiraiya told them they had to have separate rooms. It's how Sasuke ended up with Suigetsu as a roommate, and Naruto ended up with Gaara. "I don't like it."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure at some point, probably every weekend, we can skip off to the mansion." Naruto lowered his hands and squeezed around Sasuke tightly. "It'll be okay."

He squeezed again and let Sasuke go. Naruto grabbed his bag, kissed Sasuke on the cheek and headed in through the open double doors. He stopped with several other people at a large sign, saw 'Uzumaki – 116' and walked down the hall. Naruto raised a hand to knock on 116, but seeing as it's his room, he opened the door.

The room was silent besides some quick typing away at a labtop. Gaara sat on an unmade bed with an empty container of coffee and a fresh one besides him. He stopped and twitched a bit. He looked over as Naruto crashed down on the bed across from his and strtched out. "Hey Gaara."

"Hey Naruto. Did you get through the white version yet? I just finished this morning." Gaara said pulling out his DS and setting it on the bed.

"Yeah, I finished it yesterday. I need to play something besides Pokemon though. I've been thinking of going old school. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong." Naruto said and sat up to open his bag. He started unpacking by pulling out his small TV, followed by the PS3 and the Xbox 360, a present from Sasuke for his 19th birthday. He set them on the bed then pulled out a box filled with games.

Gaara starred for a minute then tilted his head and took a sip of coffee, trying to figure out his question was about to make his head hurt. "Naruto, where did you pack your clothes?"

"Oh, they're… Shit. I knew I forgot something. I suppose I should go catch Sasuke so I can go get them." Naruto jumped up and quickly abandoned his most prized possessions on the unmade bed. Naruto ran out the open door and left Gaara with his laptop. He stayed there for a minute in silence before returning to his work on the computer. He took a sip of his coffee and set it down safely on the floor in front of his bed.

While Gaara was only beginning college, he had the fortune of gaining a reputation from his old school paper and was offered a job as an assistant editor at The Edge. The Edge was an underground, and actually popular newspaper run against the college paper, The Bureau. He thought this would help when he goes through his newspaper classes, as all the teachers, though contracted to The Bureau, read The Edge.

A knock at the door disrupted the article on how student's this year are only likely to get jobs if they have on-the-job experience. Gaara looked up and saw Sasuke at the door. "I figured since Naruto had to run home and possibly crash my car, it would be a good time to talk."

"Please, have a seat then." Gaara said. He quickly saved and closed his laptop setting it aside for later. Sasuke walked in and closed the door halfway. He sat down on Naruto's bed and exchanged tense glances with the red head. "Please, be frank, as I will."

"Of course, I wouldn't imagine otherwise." Sasuke said. The young Uchiha crossed his arms. "I don't trust you, nephew of a friend or not. I don't trust you around Naruto, I don't trust you in general. I am not please that you are Naruto's room mate."

"You're just mad because I'm the only other person besides you on his speed dial. He's yours, I understand that. I'm only wondering if you do." Gaara reached down on the floor and quickly saw a ball point pen stuck in the wood. "You think to scare me somehow?" Gaara picked up the coffee and took a sip un-phased. "I'm your boyfriend's best friend, how do you think he'd feel if he could see you trying to scare me?"

"You're trying to guilt trip me into being okay with this, and it's not working. I've been guilt tripped by politicians, environmentalist and homeless, the homeless are the only ones to win so far." Sasuke stood up. "As long as we get that we don't trust each other, I think we can survive this year."

"What are you talking about, I trust you. I trust you to mess up everything like you have before. You're too damn stupid to do anything else. Now, I have work to do since we all don't have a villainous uncle with a taste for theatrics who leaves millions behind." Gaara picked his laptop back up and opened it without another word. Sasuke suddenly had an urge to punch him in the face. The Uchiha ignored the feeling and walked out closing the door behind him and wandering into the hall of freshmen.

It wasn't long before Sasuke returned to his room, avoiding the stares of people who recognized him or just wondered who the hot guy was. Sasuke sat down on his fully made bed, his clothes half put away. Suigetsu was gone; he had put up his posters as promised and had, in fact, covered the entire room with bands.

Sasuke laid back and closed his eyes. When he opened them he found that a large box was set on his chest with his _mon __frère_looking down at him. "I brought you your microwave. You have five minutes to get to class."

"I have… it can wait." Sasuke said taking the box and setting it on the bed. He sat up and looked at Itachi. "You shouldn't have bought me anything; you don't have the money for it."

"My little brother's starting college, I figured I could buy you something. Get to class, call me when your done." Itachi said and set down all of Sasuke's text books on the bed. "I passed Suigetsu on the way in, he said you were asleep so I picked them up for you." Itachi than set down Sasuke credit card. "Get to class, make a positive impact, and don't be late. It's across the street. _Au __revoir__, mon __frère__._"

Itachi began walking out the room when his cell phone rang and he went straight back to work. 'Poor Itachi.' Sasuke thought and stood up grabbing the books he needed.


	2. An Interesting Start

**Sorry it took so long for the second chapter, the third will be coming out sooner.

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Naruto retrieved Sasuke from his class that had just ended to walk him back to the dorms. They both had to wait three more hours for their next class to start. The next class they shared, which Naruto didn't understand since Sasuke could have easily tested out of college algebra. "You know, I think it would be awesome to have Jiraiya as a teacher. Think about it, I can sit there and doze off during class and bug him about the lesson later when it's more at my convenience than the schools. That'd be awesome."

"Jiraiya's an idiot, and a sexist. I don't know how they let him teach here. You barely learn anything, except how to size girl's clothing and the cup size, which is more than useless." Sasuke said. He pulled out a bottle of water, removed the cap and down the entire top half. He came away gasping a bit. "It's also dryer then the desert in there. I think I might buy him a humidifier to put in his room, I'd even take the time to fill it up everyday."

"I keep telling him to put his coffee maker in his room, but does he listen to a good idea…" Naruto said looking to the side. He caught a glimpse of a white suit and just jerked his head back to Sasuke as quickly as possible. He acted like it was nothing and once again Orochimaru wasn't stalking them in their daily lives. "What? The coffee maker let's out steam, and he could sell cups to his students since his classes aren't that big and that thing's monstrous. He'd get a free humidifier and make enough money to pay for his coffee habit. … And Tsunade's coffee habit… Hopefully."

Naruto laughed a bit uneasy until he looked up and felt Sasuke's hand land in the middle of his chest. 'Uh…' Escaped the blonde's lips as he looked to find Orochimaru standing in front of them. Sasuke sighed deeply, knowing what was coming. He was brooding already so this just made his mood solidify even more. It was another nervous stand off until they heard sirens somewhere, indicating that someone saw one of the cronies and had called the cops. Sasuke gracefully tilted his head to each side until a load cracking noise burst the stiff air. "Naruto, stick to the plan."

"So, you are following in big brother's footprints." A spotted laugh followed Orochimaru and then died out. "Let me guess, you signed up for the writing classes. Madara had been talking about you, you know. He was so proud that you aced all you summer classes a year ago, then so disappointed that you quit. He's really upset. I'll tell him you didn't care. It'd piss him off, which is one of my favorite things to do over afternoon tea."

"Thanks, because I wasn't going to tell him myself. Once again, I'll politely ask you to fuck off and leave me alone. You're bothering me and interrupting my day. How would you feel if I just randomly came up and stalked you every second of everyday?" Sasuke said and shoved Naruto away. He gave the blond a glare, which made him follow the plan. The start running and lure out whoever else was there. He ran back towards the campus's literary building and was quickly stopped by Hidan, dressed as a goth, and Kakuzu, dressed in a nice suit. Naruto stopped and backed up near Sasuke. He tilted his head back and softly whispered, "The old one and the crazy one."

"Let Naruto go, he has no value to you or Madara, unless you want to know how to play football. It's not like he ever does anything anyway." Sasuke said with a straight face. He waited and Orochimaru began to run towards him. Of course, only Sasuke and his mutated eyes could keep up with the paces of the genetically enhanced. Orochimaru was in slow motion to Sasuke, his steps seeming to be fake and movie-like. Orochimaru had halved the distance between them when something else, moving much faster behind Orochimaru came into view. There was a spot of blond hair over Orochimaru's shoulder followed by a man's hand with a wedding band on it gripping Orochimaru's shoulder. Suddenly Orochimaru was flung and stopped by landing on his face and sliding for twenty yards on the soft grass. The man stood there, his back facing Sasuke, and scratched his head. He then stretched in a bright blue Hawaiian tiki shirt, pair of Capri khakis and was finally adorned with flip flops. The man scratched his back and finally turned around.

He stretched both arms out wide now and even a leg. That proved to be bad and he fell over. Some dust and dirt flew up in the air in puffs around him. "Och… I'm not used to pavement… It's too hard."

"What the hell is that guy? He's like a strung out version of Orochimaru." Kakuzu asked walking up next to Sasuke. The Uchiha shrugged and watched as the man tried to pick dirt out of his graying-blond beard after a wobbly success at sitting up. "Hidan, watch yourself."

"Hey, I found Hancock!" Hidan said quietly as he nudged Naruto and pointed, clearly ignoring his partner. The two laughed quietly until the man miraculously stood, although a bit unstable. He slowly began to walk over and looked at the four of them. "Um…"

He pulled out a picture of Sasuke and held it up. He compared the two year old photo to the man standing in front of him. "Grew your hair out, the ponytails a nice touch. You're the Uchiha right?" The man hiccupped. "I'm supposed to keep you safe… So who do I toss outta here? Or is it nobody?"

He hiccupped again, the smell of whiskey floating off his breath. Sasuke was questioning on who to trust, but figured a drunk was better then a masochist and an accountant. Sasuke stuck out two thumbs and pointed in the middle of Kakuzu's and Hidan's chests. "These two."

"I thought…" Hiccup. "I thought so, forgive my drunkenness, it was cheap." He said and was quickly gone from sight with Hidan and Kakuzu sliding down by Orochimaru's feet. "I thought one of them was genetically modified."

"The first one was." Sasuke said quickly and stuck out his hand. The man looked at it, seemingly confused, then shook it with authority and dropped it quickly. The drunkard turned to Naruto and smiled patting him on the head. Sasuke coughed getting the attention back to him. "Sasuke Uchiha, year one Advanced Literary track. And you are?"

"Literary… Literary… Hey, you know Jiraiya, I read he started working here." He hiccupped again until he saw another person begin to walk up. He pointed and waited on Sasuke's verdict. Sasuke turned around and shook his head. He lowered his hand but an ecstatic Nagato grabbed it.

"I'm such a huge fan of your work. I loved the dissertation on cellular applications that can help cause regeneration; it's been the back bone…" He pulled his hand away and patted him on the head like his was a little kid. Nagato glared confused. "Um… Sir, I'm honored to meet you. I've studied your work, I'm a biochemist."

"Don't be so into your work that you think I'm like that, I'm a drunk and I fail, and fall, consistently." He hiccupped and then stabilized himself via the hand on Nagato's head. "Sorry 'bout that. Now, you look like you need to stop piercing yourself, get yourself a wife, and enjoy your short mortality, because unlike me, you might still have a chance to do something great. Now, where's ole perverted and grey? He owes me money."

He hiccupped again. He turned to Naruto. "I am really sorry about the hiccup thing. I will get over it, I promise. I just need to stop drinking too much, correct? You can help me later." He patted Naruto on the head again, smiling. He began pushing past them and glaring around like the tourists do when they visit some place spectacular.

"He's a disoriented alcoholic… Dear God… all my life…" Nagato suddenly fell into a vortex of disappointment. Sasuke flicked him on the noise causing Nagato to snap back to reality with a jolt. "Hey, watch it."

"Go home to Konan, and stop whining like a five year old. All mentors and heroes disappoint the people who look up to them at some point. You should expect this by now." Sasuke turned, grabbing Naruto's hand, and dragged him after the drunk. "Why do we always attract strange people? It's like Suigetsu stuck a giant sign on us that says, 'Hey, we'll put up with your bullshit.'"

"Well, better us then, say, some five year old. Or someone who wasn't involved in the first place. Ten to one, if it hadn't been us, who ever it was, would have wound up dead." Naruto said as they caught up with the man who was reading the building. "Jiraiya should be in his office, it's the first door on your left. Once you get inside."

"Awesome." He slowly went up the stairs with Sasuke and Naruto following and whispering about the man, trying to figure out exactly where he came from and what he was doing. He went inside, knocked on Jiraiya's door twice, kicked it once and went in. The minute the door opened he hiccupped in front of Jiraiya and Tsunade. Jiraiya's jaw dropped as Tsunade covered her gasping mouth with her hands. "Hey pops, hey ma, you two get married yet?"

"Um… No." Jiaraiya quickly stood up from the chair Tsunade had forced him too and offered it to him. He took the seat and hiccup, then quickly apologized for it. "So… you…? What happened to you?"

"Went crazy, got drunk, and woke up about two years ago. My nanny got pissed at me and said I had to do something, I think I just need to sober up a bit and get a therapist." He said quickly. He, realizing what he had said, shrugged. "I'll explain later. Oh, pops, can I crash with you? I kind of don't have anywhere to stay right now. You know, wake up in Mexico, no money, no home. That ol' chestnut."

"Of course, but, there is limited drinking in my house, and nothing nearly as good as what's on your breath." Jiraiya muttered however Tsunade stood up, waded around the desk, her heels carving into the woodwork and slapped him straight across the face. Jiraiya went silent as he watched Tsunade's vein in her forehead begin to grow.

"How dare you come in here begging for favors! You've been gone 18 odd years! You abandoned your family and friends for a wild goose chase!" Tsunade gripped his shirt in her palms, pulled him out of the chair and shoved him into the wall. "We thought you were dead!"

Her sentence screamed through the full halls, causing everything to go silent, the students stopping and turning to where the deans have their afternoon tea. Naruto and Sasuke both felt the scream creep up their backs as they were on the outside wall waiting to be told what was happening. That seemed less likely to happen now. Naruto quickly went to damage control. "Hehe… Nothing to see here, Tsunade's just reading… reading off of a script. You know how she and Jiaraiya just love those drama plays. I think it might be the fall play, but nothing here to see."

Naruto quickly shoved Sasuke in the office. "It's okay folks, go back to your business." Naruto pushed himself inside the small office and slammed the door closed. He sighed and looked up at Tsunade. "Okay, calm down. We talked about your anger; use words not your fists. Remember your last date?"

Tsunade growled and went back to her seat. She grabbed her tea, downed it, and starred at the man. Her hand gripped the cup, she calming down, spared the little glass dish from breaking. "You're going under full medical surveillance… You'll stay in the old medical building."

"No…"

"Yes! Or I'll have you arrest for being drunk in public! You waltz in here as if nothing has happened, all your responsibilities fell on Jiraiya! He had to take over everything! You abandoned your post and your responsibilities!"

The man edged foreword and leaned over the desk. He calmly whispered, "What did you do, ma, when you lost Dan? Didn't you run away to Québec for three years? Dan didn't mean half as much to you as Kushina did to me, so don't lecture me! I tried to save her! I tried…" He sat back down in the chair Jiraiya gave him. "I'm sorry, Tsu, but I did what seemed necessary at the time."

"No, you do have a point there, but, get checked up. I'll have one of my male students do it off the record as patient X." He nodded. Tsunade sat back calmly and pour a new cup of tea. She pushed it foreword and he took it. "We'll have to get you detoxified over the next 24 hours, no booze, no drugs of any kind."

"I know the drill, I invented it." He said calmly. He hiccupped and took a small drink. "So, now that we've got that off our chests, I've been sent here to help out… That one. Nine sent me. Hiya. Um… Yeah, don't bleed. Treat yourself like you have AIDs, because if Orohimaru gets a bit of it, yea, he said that was bad."

He scratched at his scalp until he tugged one out, it was a frizzy grey hair. He sighed and dropped it on the floor. "Hey, pops, you mind taking me out for food, I am starving. I threw up the airplane food at the airport. By the way, never eat the lobster with the ketchup, it's just nasty."

He looked over at Naruto when he said that and smiled. "So who are you, anyway?" Naruto asked. The man bit his lip, he looked down and didn't know what to say. Instead as a nervousl twitch he began scratching again.

"It's obvious, Naruto, this is Minato Namikaze, this is your father." Jiriaya said softly.


	3. Confrontation

**I wasn't given all the time in the world to edit this as I'll be without internet for the next few days. If you find a spelling error please message me with the sentence! I'll try to change it as soon as possible.**

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"This place must be expensive." Minato observed starring at the fancy wall paper and chandeliers with actual candles in them. The people talked in hushed tones and Minato felt displaced immediately. He hadn't shaved in a while and his hair was untamed. Here the men were in nice shirts, polo's and khakis. He sighed deeply and thought about turning around. Jiraiya pushed him in anyway and made sure he entered. Minato looked back at him. "I don't have enough money for this joint. I barely have enough to buy a frozen meal."

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke said over hearing the conversation. He walked foreword and smiled over at the elderly man that was the waiter. Sasuke leaned on the podium getting his attention. The waiter jumped to attention and smiled with a huge wrinkled grin. "Hey, Craig. Table for four, in private if we have any left."

"Yes sir, this way mister Uchiha." Craig said and bowed. He began leading them to the back of the restaurant, they got stares from all over, people pointing and whispering. Naruto and Sasuke seemed undisturbed by they eyes watching them, but like him, Jiraiya was looking at them nervously. Minato leaned into his would-be father and whispered "Why are they glaring like that?"

"Sasuke's kind of a town celebrity because a family member. He's kind of like Paris Hilton without the rack." Jiariya said motioning to his chest day dreaming. Minato rolled his eyes and moved foreword to inquire to Sasuke himself.

"You come here often?" Minato asked the young man who seemed horribly attached to getting to a secluded area as quick as possible. Sasuke looked at him then grabbed a chair at a small table with half walls around it for privacy. He looked at his son and inquired. "What?"

"He owns this place; it was part of his inheritance." Naruto whispered leaning in to him. This earned a quick glance from Sasuke who read the words off his lips. Minato was stunned for a minute then shrugged it off. Naruto sat next to him and tried to explain in hushed tones. "Sasuke's not really… He…"

"I don't like to flaunt my money anymore." Sasuke interrupted. Naruto sat back and scratched his head like he was busted in some way. Sasuke just smiled calmly at him. "I grew up with two years of paying taxes. It's why I make large donations each year, though this business is very profitable so I keep it."

"I'll have your menus in a second, Mister Uchiha." Craig said. He bowed again and walked away. Instead of getting the menus off of the tray he headed into the back. Minato observed. 'Probably because the boss is here.'

"Well… you must like being called mister." Minato noted. "People usually like titles."

"I told him not to call me that, but he won't stop." Sasuke said a little bit unnerved. He regained his composure quickly and examined everything around him making sure the coast was clear. "So… Lot's of things to talk about. I guess the first should be obvious. Nine?"

"He's been hiding me in a small city in Mexico for the past two years. He hasn't gotten me past the drinking, but he's been making me work. I've been growing corn by hand for some responsibility building exercise while he was telling me over and over again why we had to get to you to save you from Orochimaru." Minato said and then looked around the table feeling like he had divulged too much. He blamed his drinking habits and moved on. "Let to say, helping him was like giving snake an egg to babysit."

"We've been able to avoid him a lot, we have spies in his organization, and it's mainly to keep Sasuke from Madara." Naruto said to his father. Minato just stared at him not understanding. "You know, Madara, you used to work with him."

"He was a calmly genius, why would you need to protect him from Madara?" Minato inquired. Everyone looked at him. "What happened?"

"Madara became entraced with living forever and murdered hundreds of people for his research." Naruto said quietly. "It's how Sasuke… anyway, everyone knows here since he's been on the loose for two years with Orochimaru. Since we need to focus on Orochimaru…"

"Orochimaru's not going to be in charge long. Our informant has been saying that Madara's getting pissed, and Orochimaru's loosing favor over the…." Sasuke saw his faithful waiter return and stopped talking and coughed to indicate that they weren't alone.

Craig quietly handed out the menus. He then stood back with his pad of paper waiting to take down their drinks. "Water, Coke?"

"Water for us all please." Sasuke said sweetly. He nodded putting the paper away and walked away.

"Orochimaru focuses too much on you. If he gets to you, he'll be able to become immune to the anti-virus that was accidentally put into you." Minato said darkly and then turned his head in somewhat disbelief to a copy of starry night and sighed. "And now that they have one of the leading genetics experts driven mad, Madara can use what's in you with what he knows to make a serum that will get him what he wants, but at a cost."

Sasuke coughed again and Minato muttered under his breath that they should just tell him to leave. Jiraiya nudged him and he turned more away into the painting. Jiraiya pushed him straight in his seat Craig approached once more to the table. "Do you need more time to order?"

"Yes please." Sasuke said in a cheerful voice. Craig nodded and Sasuke snapped to get Minato back on focus. It didn't work so Sasuke finished the conversation. "The cost is that he will become anemic, loose almost all his oxygen so he'll have to steal blood constantly. Since he has to hide away, and he needs his muscle, that means he'll take someone's blood, a murder a day. I've figured this out a while ago."

"Don't go into genetics, take horticulture, green energy. Humans are worthless and disappointing. Work on saving the planet, not people. They'll evolve soon enough." Minato said in a hot flash of anger. He was again fully back into the conversation. Minato opened the fancy menu to see that everything had nutrition counts next to it. Minato smiled and almost laughed. "This menu has calorie counts? That's too cool."

Naruto smiled widely and leaned over happily. "That was me… football and baseball, I have to keep healthy." He quickly flexed one of his biceps and both Sasuke and Jiraiya sighed at his pride.

"You're like your mother." In an instance it was like the table stopped breathing. The silence was still in the air, but Minato smiled as he looked down the menu. "She was always saying I shouldn't eat too many fried foods. Told me I was going to die of it one day."

Naruto remained quiet for a minute. He was afraid to ask the next question but already knew the answer. He gripped the napkin tight in his fist and looked at his father who had a little smile on his face. "So she _is_ dead?"

"Yes." The smiled dropped quickly. Minato paid attention to the menu again. "She was very… She was a hippie. Painted the whole house orange and had plants covering every wall. Worked with charities all day. She wanted to become governor one day and start a naturalist movement. She was a ditz though too…"

"That time she bumped Tsunade's curio cabinet." Both Minato and Jiraiya froze in a time warp quickly then started giggling Minato had to cover his face from bursting out laughing. I took them a minute before they calmed down and Jiraiya explained to the two who weren't alive yet that: "She broke over a thousand dollars in stemware."

"That was her. God, I hadn't thought about that in years." Minato said somewhat refreshed by the memory. "So, I'm here to protect you… And to learn about you, Naruto. I'll never be much of a father, but I'd like to try."

"I'd like that." They smiled at each other before dropping the moment and going back to the menus. Sasuke observed them carefully, the resemblance was there, but Naruto seemed more free then Minato. He just stared and then blanked out.

Jiraiya clapped his hands together. "See Naruto, now you've got even more family, which means I am no longer…"

"You still have to buy me stuff." Naruto said quickly erasing the thought from Jiraiya's mind. Jiraiya frowned and Naruto stuck out his tongue quickly. "I know I'm a brat."

"Sasuke!" The call was sharp and minimalistic. It stretched just to the table and didn't disrupt anyone else. Itachi walked up in a suit and tie. "You have class in twenty minutes! We talked about this, you have to attend."

"You tracked me down to tell me that?" Sasuke said angrily standing up. "I can miss the first class of advanced physics, all they do is recover the basics today."

"And I got a promotion." Itachi smiled at him and Sasuke sighed muttering 'you tricky bastard' under his breath. "I am now in charge of all travels to the Caribbean and making deals with the hotels." Itachi said proudly. He crossed his arms and waited a second. "You wanted to go to Jamaica for thanksgiving right?"

Naruto sighed. "You make me want to switch my major sometimes."

"Don't. It was hard enough getting a good job, but the publicity from Madara got me where I am today, which is sad." He stopped for a minute and noticed a man he hadn't seen before but the resemblance to Naruto made him a little off set. He stuck his hand out. "Hello."

"Hi." Minato grabbed his hand and shook it firmly he dropped it and turned better to see a man in a nice silk suit standing next to him. Mianto Saw the Sasuke was nearly a mirror image of him."Minato Namikaze."

Itachi recognized the name from Nagato immediately. He looked at him questionably noting Nagato said he had been dead for quite sometime but that no one had ever known for sure whether he was or not. "Itachi Uchiha."

"This is my dad." Naruto said quickly. A sudden disbelief filled in Itachi's head. He suddenly became very protective of Naruto as he was to Sasuke. "I have a dad."

"That's cool." Itachi said and it followed by: "So where have you been at all these years?"

"Mexico, Chile, Brazil." Minato said then finally realized his mood towards him. He looked at him, his eys focusing in. "Hunting down Nine."

"Nine sent him to protect me from Orochimaru." Sasuke tried to interject quickly. It didn't cut any tension between them.

"How can we be sure that we can trust you?" Itachi said. And Minato stood up to still be looked down by a man who was barley an inch taller then him. "You just show up out of the blue."

"It's better then never." They both twitched. Each of their left hands caught their right hands."Protective much for someone in the same position as me?"

"Obviously more then you." Itachi pushed him off and Minato fell into the chair. "I have none of Nine in me."

"Itachi, come on. You can drive me to class." Sasuke said quickly shoving his older brother foreword towards the resturant's exit and away from a confrontation. Itachi wasn't one to be shoved so he turned and walked out on his own. He quickly dug his keys out and tossed them to Naruto. "Don't scratch it."

"I won't… much." Naruto kept the last part silent and was happy Sasuke didn't hear it. After scratching it last year in a parking lot, a place Sasuke told him to specifically avoid, he always warned Naruto. Naruto relaxed back in his seat and looked at Minato "I've scratched it before."

Jirayia sat their quietly for a second observing Minato's face. The Uchiha had struck a cord somewhere in Minato's psyche and it was rattling him something fierce. Jiraiya placed a hand on his head and messed up his hair until he looked up. "Itachi's… He's all Sasuke had for many years, he protected him from Orochimaru."

"He sacrificed himself so Sasuke wasn't the guinea pig of Orochimaru's early experiments. He thinks anything connected with any of them are no good." Naruto said quietly as he saw the waiter approach. "You need to give him some time."

Craig the waiter took out his pad of paper anyway and looked around. "Mister Uchiha left?"

"Classes." Craig smiled in a proud association type way. Naruto thought it was a little creepy and quickly spat out the first thing he could think of. "Can I get the spaghetti?"


	4. Old Friends

Orochimaru was more than in a panic about this mysterious stranger how showed up and beat the living shit out of them. What was more infuriating is that he kept replaying in his head when the hobo-like man had stopped him. He was faster and pulled him out of his run; he was tossed and hit the ground to only skid like he had been a rag doll thrown from a car. _He's faster… Who the Hell is he and where did he come from?_

Orochimaru was not excited to go back and let Madara see his face all cut up. Hidan and Kakuzu were fine as they rolled a bit and had warning before they went skidding onto soft grass. Orochimaru was almost jealous at their fortune. The other thing that was pissing him off was that Nagato got off by brown-nosing the bastard who had tossed him a hundred and fifty feet. Nagato just stood there thinking on the porch as they walking up to the current safe house, an old abandoned warehouse.

Nagato went in first letting the screen door slam behind him and began talking to Konan in hushed tones. She quickly grabbed his head and petted him like he was in pain. Orochimaru watched then as his dog Pein gave his master loving nudges with his wet nose. Nagato seemed to cheer up instantly. Konan looked over at Orochimaru and stared without emotion. "Orochimaru, who took a cheese shredder to your face?"

Orochimaru nearly growled and ran over there to punch her in the face. Instead he stood there calmly and looked at her with a still anger. His best defense was that she was a woman; sexism was all he had to hold her to. "Shouldn't you get back in the kitchen?"

"You need to stay away from it." Orochimaru raised his hand but it was caught by Madara. Madara dropped his hand and shook his finger in Orochimaru's face as to discipline him. It worked apparently as Orochimaru sighed sadly. "I'm sorry."

Madara led him to a seat and pulled out a first aid kit. He went through it and tugged out a band-aid. Orochimaru looked at him and took it as if it were some kind of cute yet idiotic thing to do. He needed gauze and Madara knew this. Madara however went to his seat and began sipping at coffee through his new mask. "So, what the Hell happened to you?"

Orochimaru grasped the band-aid and crushed it in his fists. He stared blankly at the floor with a deep aura of anger and rage flowing out of every orifice. He bit his lip for a second and Kakuzu stepped in. "I think they were expecting something. They had a genetically enhanced protector who was drunk, but effective nonetheless..."

"You should have taken care of him." Madara said and looked at Orochimaru. Orochimaru dug his perfectly manicured nails into his hands and a little blood came out from the reopened wounds to that it dripped. "What?"

"He grabbed me from behind when I was in a dead sprint and launched me backwards in the air fifty meters and then I skidded for twenty more on concrete…." Orochimaru tossed the ruined band-aid on the floor and began pacing not understanding how this had happened. He pressed both palms against his temples and let his fingers sink into his hair. "I was running at least sixty miles an hour… No man alive should have been able to catch me in a dead sprint! Genetic or not he was running at least eighty-five but I bet it was closer to ninety! This is new, someone's out did me! Someone's out did me… Or he's a freak of nature."

Kabuto entered the room seeing Orochimaru's signature white suite covered in blood and getting more on it each second. He sighed at the amount of bleach he was going to use and set down the tea and went back into the kitchen. He came back after Orochimaru had stopped walking and was standing in a daze starring off into some unfathomable other thoughts. Kabuto pulled his hand away and began to gauze it. Madara looked down for a second as well, ponder their newest problem. "Who is he?"

"Why don't you ask Nagato, he's the only one that didn't get turned into a cannonball." Hidan said as if it wasn't obvious. He and Kakuzu were covered in grass stains, Orochimaru was oozing blood and Nagato had minty fresh breath. "Looked like he went up there for autographs, except when Sasuke told him off."

"He's a project of nine by now." Nagato said in a quiet voice. He turned to Madara and then looked at Orochimaru surprised that he didn't recognize him. "His name is Minato Nami…"

"Minato? He's alive! Oh, I have to go see him!" Madara said in a joyous tone standing up to grab his suit jacket. He was putting it on when Orochimaru snapped out of it.

"That was Minato!" Orochimaru smiled and then began laughing. He quickly grabbed the gauze and began dabbing up his face. "He looked like a hobo! I have to go too! You have to see him, he's got this huge beard now. He's like santa."

"He'll kill you!" Nagato said in protest quickly. If he had said that they would be off guard and both of them would be dangerous if it was just Sasuke or Naruto, they would have equated all there bad luck the the snitch in their mists. Instead he gave a valid reason. "Do you really want to be flung again? Madara, you couldn't survive that!"

"He's my protégé! He'll be glad to see me." Madara protested. "Well, then he was my boss… He was a rapid leader…"

"Naruto Uzumaki is his son…" Nagato reminded them. Both shrugged like there were back in the good old days when they were all friends. "He'll know by know what you've done by now. Ten to one, he'd want to kill you all."

"So, I'll be polite. There is such a thing." Madara said and looked around and grabbed his cell phone off the table along with his car keys. "Orochimaru, work on a plan to capture him after we visit him. Base it around Naruto if we can get enough information that they are close. You know, I've wanted to speak with him about Christmas gifts for Sasuke, I didn't know if he liked his gift last year. Hopefully he's there."

"You sent our enemy a Christmas gift?" Orochimaru asked him as they went out of the old, fire worn warehouse. They walked over to a nice black town car. "You know you should save funds since YOU don't have any."

"He's still my nephew." Madara argued. He opened the driver's side door and looked at Orochimaru. "You've got… Oh never mind, it's stained."

Naruto checked the handle to his dorm. It turned fine so he went inside to find Gaara on his computer again. Gaara looked up and smied. Naruto stepped in and Minato followed him in shutting the door. Minato nodded and Gaara returned the greeting. Naruto scratched his head nervously and pointed to the shaggy man behind him. "Hey Gaara, um… this is my dad."

Gaara stared at him observant and noted the obvious resemblance and that this was not an imposter. An imposter would have cleaned up. "I thought you didn't have parents."

"I've been… stupid is the best word." Minato said quietly and sat down on the bed and watched as Naruto moved to the other side of him. "I've been in Mexico for the last 18 years, everyone thought I was dead…"

Naruto patted him on the back. They smiled the same smile at each other and then Naruto introduced his roommate. "Dad, this is my roommate Gaara."

"Hi. So you like coffee." Minato said noting the piles of cups around the boy's bed and table. They were from all different places and all looked fresh. "I like the Cuban best myself, I don't have to drink as much of it."

"I've never had it before." Gaara said noting it in a small list in his head along with the new Pokemon game and cleaning. California didn't get many Cubans, they received Mexicans, and so the coffee wasn't very familiar to them. Minato figured he had found something to discuss for a while, especially when Gaara then asked: "What's the caffeine strength compare to Colombian?"

"A shot of Cuban is equal to four cups Colombian I'd say roughly." Minato figured looking around that one cup a day would help him. But this wasn't a normal drinker, he was something much worse. "How long have you been a caffeine addict?"

Naruto's face went pale. Naruto began to freak out. "Dad, that's not something you ask someone."

"Actually it is, caffeine addiction is common, and it's not that looked down upon like heroin." Naruto relaxed a bit and looked away being somewhat embarrassed. Gaara thought back quickly. "About six years, started with one a week. I'm up to six or seven cups in a four hour period."

"Do you sleep?" Minato asked. It was an easy question. Caffeine addicts usually have problems with sleeping as they don't keep a normal schedule but something erratic and unusual.

"Every three or four days for about twenty hours. It's why I have all my classes Monday and Friday, so I can deal with my crashes." Gaara said somewhat upset. He then thought and felt his body strain a little. "I should be crashing here in a few hours.It's been a few days."

"That's…." There was a knock on the door. It was loud and fast. They all sat there for a minute until it came again. It was there door. Minato figured it was about him and opened the door. Instead of college security, it was a man in a mask and a shredded scientist. "Hi…"

Madara removed his mask quickly so Minato could see that it was him, or a remainder of him. He quickly put the mask back on and sighed. "Hi, I just wanted…. It's been forever, can we come in."

He stepped aside to let Madara in and Orochimaru began following. "What happened to you?"

"You did…" Minato just smiled and shut the door as both Naruto and Gaara were suddenly up with fists at both sides. Minato just waved his hand for them to calm down. Orochimaru looked at Naruto and smiled, blood still wet on his clothes. "We will behave; we came to talk to your father."

"Oh…. So you were the first one." Minato said scratching his head trying to remember back that far. "I couldn't really see this morning. It was all bright and stuff…"

Madara looked at Naruto then over to the red head. His mind suddenly went back to the Godzilla picture he still has on his bedroom wall. "You."

"Glad you remember me." Gaara smiled and sat down not on the bed but on the floor. He starred and kept his hand on the bed frame, waiting calmly.

Naruto looked at both of them. He didn't know who to ask, so he asked the question to the entire room. "You know him."

"He threatened… Let's just say he's very protective of his uncle." Madara replied as he watched Gaara just smiling on the floor like he knew what he was doing. "I take it Sasori arranged this, the roommates thing."

"Yea, they wouldn't let me and Sasuke share a dorm, but next year we get to move into the mansion. If Itachi moved back there we'd be able to stay there now… but he's…." Naruto kind of drifted off. He didn't want to say 'But he's disgusted by the décor' but decided not to bring the subject up on it. "Different design ideas."

"Itachi has no taste." Madara corrected him holding up a finger like he was teaching Naruto how to not insult him as if he had done it wrong. Naruto shook his head and muttered "That's not what I would have called it…"

"I disagree; your mansion was always ugly." Orochimaru interjected. "The floor plan is confusing, you have marble in places you should have had wood and there's too much wall paper. Plus, it's way to dark."

Before Madara could fire off some retaliation, literally or figuratively Minato stepped in between them. "So why are we here?"

Madara looked at him as if he should already know the answer. "We heard you were back."

"We want to know about nine. Where is he?" Orochimaru licked his lips happily. He wanted his revenge on the scientist who had tried to kill him and was so close to it.

"I don't know. He did say he was retiring." Orochimaru looked at him like he had started talking about unicorns. He didn't believe it at all. "He did go on about a love of the Swiss alps. Can't blame him, they are pretty."

"You think we're going to fall for that 'goose chase' trick?" Orochimaru said and grabbed Minato's neck. Minato didn't flinch. "Where is he?"

"I think you'd better be leaving." Gaara had suddenly and out of nowhere fashioned a sword and placed it in one of the wounds on Orochimaru's face causing him to bleed more.

"Like I'm going to be intimidated by you." Orochimaru said but suddenly the sword was a little into his neck. Orochimaru starred at him. "You're a professional, maybe I should be. Right over the artery, or maybe your lucky…"

"But I'm not." Minato suddenly revered the grip and had Orochimaru by the back of the neck with him facing the door. "By the way, your face looks like someone took a cheese grater to it. It'd recommend you heal up before I fling you again. Good day and if you ever come back here, I'll personally crush your heads in. Good night."

Madara left quietly but Orochimaru was shoved out and Minato slammed the door. Gaara grabbed a tissue and began cleaning off the sword. He blew on it to get the dust off and slid it in the sheathing hole which was pointed out from under the mattress. He hid it back away and looked at the two of them. "Can I ask?"

"You don't want to know." Naruto said and sat back down on his bed. For some reason the sword didn't pop in his mind as a weapon, after two years of living with Suigetsu, Naruto would probably never notice a blade as a weapon again. Minato had noticed it at least, but wasn't scared of him injuring Naruto. "It's just better."

S"That's fine. Just as long as everyone's okay in the end." Gaara muttered. He climbed up on his bed and pulled his blanket around him. He yawned slightly. "So Cuban, does it have any specific flavors?"

"I used to get this knock of brand in Cancun, had a hint of mint and strawberry. I think I might be able to have it shipped over here." Minato said remembering it fondly. He suddenly relapsed back to Mexico. "_Es muy beuno._

Minato then noticed the language change and looked over to his son. "_Naruto, habal espanol?"_

"_Non. Parle vous francis?" _Naruto replied in French quickly. Minato starred for a short second.

"No." He shook his head. "French is my language, too much… non-pronunciation."

"_Nihongo?" _Gaara inquired of both of them. Minato shook his head and Naruto tilted his like a cat that was confused.

"What language is that?" Naruto asked. "Because I don't know where Nihongo is."

"You do know where Nihon is." Gaara assured him. Gaara turned around his laptop to show a map of the island country. "Japanese. Temari used to date a foreign exchange student, he taught me some."

"Where'd you learn French?" Minato asked Naruto. "I would think Caifornia would try to teach Spanish. It's a language needed over here."

"Sasuke and Itachi speak it fluently." Naruto explained. "They used to travel overseas a lot. Paris was Sasuke's favorite."

Gaara suddenly laughed. "We make up a mini-UN. Quick find someone who _speachize da deutch._"

Naruto and Minato laughed as well. Naruto thumbed the idea up. "That sounds fun. Maybe we should bring it up… Shit…" Naruto said looking at the clock. He didn't realize when Sasuke went to class, he was going to their 4:30 Algebra class. Naruto almost looked like he was about to start crying.

Minato looked at him and went over to him like he had remembered something important. "What?"

"I forgot to take you along to Algebra." Sasuke said bursting in the door with folders and pencils filing his arm. His phone started buzzing and he checked the message and shoved his phone away. "I'm going to have to tether you to my waist…"

Naruto smiled and scratched his head. "I know, I forgot too. What'd I miss?"

"Not much, twenty minutes in the teacher got stage fright and took off, guess the class was too big to teach in front of. I called the dean of math; we'll get in someone new next week. The dean did assign us homework and gave us his personal e-mail if we had problems." Sasuke began shuffling the papers around and eventually dropped them down on his bed and began going through them."You got lucky…"

"I usually do." Naruto smiled. Sasuke glared at him then stuck out his tongue. Sasuke pulled out a business card and handed it to him. It was the dean of math and Naruto shoved it away in his back pocket. Naruto leaned down on the floor next to him. Gaara made a small little noise that Minato picked up on; Gaara grabbed his laptop and went back to work on whatever he was doing. "This is why if I'm not there, ten to one, you don't need to be there."

Sasuke finally pulled out a large packet along with several sheet and set them aside. Naruto looked at it and flipped through the packed assignment. "Sasuke, this is a hundred page packet. Do I get to…"

"No, you have to do your own work. No more copying." Sasuke said and picked his things back up as his phone buzzed again. He pulled it out to check on it. Sighing, he shoved the phone away. Sasuke turned to Naruto and smiled. "Night."

"Night." Naruto and Sasuke kissed like the normally did and held their foreheads together muttering 'I love you' at each other. Sasuke kissed him again and left nodding at Minato and Gaara. Gaara made the little noise again as the door closed. Naruto picked up his homework and sat down looking at it. He began complaining. "I have homework… in a packet…"

Minato kind of stared at him thinking. Gaara looked at him. "I take it Naruto didn't tell you that he and Sasuke have been dating for the past two years."

Naruto had forgotten that point when talking with his father. He quickly went into defense mode. "I know it's weird…"

"No, donkey shows are weird. I just didn't know I would end up having two sons." Minato reached over and put his hand on Naruto's hair messing up his hair. "I'm fine with it if he makes you happy. Anyway, it's not like I have any say in your life. Right now, I'm bumming off you and I don't even know your favorite food. If you say ramen…"

Naruto smiled and bit and giggled. "It is. How did you know?"

"I'm going to call you mini-Kushina." Minato said sitting down next to him. "For what he's said to me, he is his mother incarnate. You're going to make me shave too aren't you?"

"You do need it." Naruto said.

"You are her…" Minato said flopping back groaning. Gaara just kept typing away snickering at the silliness of the father and the son.


	5. Classes

PLEASE READ: I am very into reader input, and very into incorporating small ideas (certain clothes, a funny sentence). If you have something you want to contribute or to push me to get chapters out sooner, I have a blog, where you will also get information on other writings. Feel free to comment on my blog and message me with something you want to add, see you there - rslq . blogspot

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Wednesday Naruto and Gaara had one of their classes together. It was a social sciences class taught by some old guy who kept looking up girls skirts. Apparently he was so old, Jiriaya had him as a college professor when he was going through getting his masters. Worst part was none of the incoming freshman from West View believed he was Mr. Sarutobi's father, also called Mr. Sarutobi. High school Mr. Sarutobi, Azuma was cool. This Mr. Sarutobi was boring and perverted. Naruto and Gaara thought it would be best to get out of the argument between him and Ino and simply play games on their gameboys.

Today's game were two very old, but well kept versions of pokemon fire red and pokemon leaf green. Gaara didn't have a preference between the two, but Naruto kept getting fed up with the tediousness of one and kept swapping their twin games at random intervals. This was causing Gaara to save after every battle as the blonde-haired blue-eyed game addict simply grabbed the game out of his gameboy and popped in the one he tired of. Gaara didn't mind, he was making great progress on both and had raised the starting pokemon evenly while Naruto was hacking at everything and making sure to capture every pokemon in sight.

"It's a waste of pokeballs. He doesn't give you anything if you actually capture them all." Gaara whispered to Naruto. Naruto got a look on his face that he might break the gameboy but stopped and handed it over to Gaara letting him keep going on both games like he was playing on the computer. "You need to learn its okay to not win every time."

"But that's the premise, to capture them all!" Naruto whispered back angrily. "The game lied to me."

"No, the professor is just a retard. It's completely unrealistic, I mean they need attention and can't stay in the preserve forever; they need to be trained, also, through a computer… that's just bullshit that they can send an entire creature through highly condensed electric waves and not have teleportation for people. Why do we have to bike everywhere?" Gaara complained over thinking the premise. "Besides, they have now encompassed about 150% of their world, think about it, how do they keep discovering new places? Something's wrong…. They need to re-think the whole 'new island chain-new season' thing."

"Are you two paying attention?" Gaara and Naruto both looked up to find their professor looking down at them. "I assigned a writing assignment."

"First day writing assignment are stupid." Gaara started quickly thinking if he could get Naruto on his wave, they would both escape trouble. "Think about it, it's something for you to grade that doesn't teach us but reviews what we already know, so we should instead be having a class wide debate on the social issues and what we know about them."

"We could bring up the five major topics about society and discuss them in a non-hostile environment." Naruto said quickly. Gaara smiled and him and moved his head for him to go on. "Think about it, religion, war, economics, culture and morality. It'd be a great discussion and everyone would walk away knowing everything everyone else knew and there would be nothing to grade."

"Nothing to grade…" Professor Sarutobi muttered to himself and stroked his beard. "Class, pencils down. Apparently playing video games has some good to them after all." There were a coupe small giggles in the class room. "I want everyone to put everything away and get on their desks. We're going to have a ball discussion."

Sarutobi grabbed a bright yellow, squishy ball from his desk and tossed it at Naruto. "We'll start on religion. You may say one sentence and then have toss the ball to someone else and sit down in your chair. "

Naruto looked at the ball and then looked up at the teacher. "Religions cause wars in the macro-community but they are also a leading cause of micro-communal peace."

"Big words for someone who doesn't get that you don't actually have to catch them all. Next." There was another round of giggles in the room and Naruto grabbed the ball in both hands and launched it up and behind him. There sounded like a frenzy of grabbing until it figured out the Hinata was in their class and had grabbed the ball. "What's your name?"

"Hinata Hyuuga. I think that over all religions have the same base of wanting to bring peace but the human element interferes with what they are try to express." She said shyly and handed the ball to her neighbor and then had someone help her back down into her seat. Hinata had a leg cast on which was completely out of character for the little mouse. Naruto and Gaara noticed and nodded to each other to check up on her after class.

"I only have six of you, wow… everyone else must be late…" Kisame said with a lack of his normal enthusiastic luster. He looked over at his desk and grabbed his attendance sheet. "Nope, there are only six…. I was hoping to see someone puke and with more students, more puke…. Welcome to Advanced Neural Biology part one, or as I call it, Brain-Cutters. I'm your host, Kisame. Any questions?"

"So, all were doing is dissecting the brain?" Ask a student who was closest to Sasuke, who was glaring at the words on the screen. "It's that kind of Advance A&P?"

"No, because part one encompasses you being able to make a realistic 3d rendering of the brain, me pointing out a section and you telling me in a twenty page essay what it does and why. This is also an essay class." Five out of the six students groaned. The sixth sat there with his hand under his desk on his iPhone waiting for a text from Naruto. Anything… Anything at all. "Sasuke, why don't you explain why this is important as Sasori had to go over the reasoning three times with you."

Sasuke sighed and looked up at him with his absolutely-bored face. "This course is a prerequisite for Genomic Studies, without understanding the intricacies of how humans function and think, we cannot begin to comprehend how the structure of DNA truly forms us. A good understanding of the brain and nervous system could lead to brilliant discoveries in the area of the human genome. Shut up and take the class."

"Word for word, huh?" Kisame said and the other students stared at him like he was a freak. They had all taken seats away from him, which Sasuke noted and wasn't offended by. "You all know Sasuke and are somewhat uncomfortable with him going into his uncle's field, aren't you?"

"Move on with the class, Kisame." Sasuke said in a small voice. Kisame looked at him, the sentence taking a second to register. Kisame nodded.

"Right, okay. I'm going to start with homework first so if you get down time, you can get started. You will have a lot of homework in this class. Let me tell you this, ay other classes are trumped by this class, you get my work done first, this is about your future. You need something done about another class, you come to me, I am a very scary, very tall guy with an immaculate ability to persuade other people. Now, homework." Kisame turned to the white board and began to write in a blue marker. 'Brain… Chapter 1-2, assignments p 13 (A1-G20), p 17 (letters A,C and F), p 57 (1-157, 159, 163-194) and a five page essay on the occipital lobe. The students gawked at it, minus Sasuke who was expecting this. He didn't believe Itachi at first when Itachi said Kisame was the toughest teacher one will ever have, but then he had him for his AP Biology. "Okay, now, I am nice, I do fill in notes and I don't just talk!"

Kisame handed Sasuke his and handed one to each other student. He pulled out an old projector and put a printed-on transparence on it. He hit the button and the first page of their packet was displayed. "Let's review, fill in as we go along, or you're going to be in a big pile of shit come test time. _The four lobes of the brain are: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital. These four lobes are located respectively at the front, the top back, the lower sides, and the lower back. Each is in charge of its own_ what class?"

"Laundry?" Came from a small kid in the corner. Everyone laughed for a second before the class went silent. A girl looked up from her notes. "Its own part of the human cognition?"

"That's a very good way of putting it…. Jane. Now, can someone make it better?" Kisame asked hopping up to sit on his desk. "Anyone?"

"Each is in charge of its own processing the different neurological stimulus assigned to that lobe." Sasuke muttered. "The frontal processes thoughts, speech and movement, the parietal does physical feeling, temporal does mainly hearing, perception and memory and the occipital is vision processing."

"Good, you used the key word. We're going to write this as _its own processing. _Now why is important to process what we intake?"

"Processing what we intake makes everything that happens to us understandable, without it we would be standing in a fire and not knowing what they fire is, how we are standing, that we are being burned and that we should move and scream." Said a voice from the other side of Jane. She leaned forward and smiled. "Plus we wouldn't get that we were even alive so dying wouldn't exist to us. We couldn't even think inside our heads, we would be rocks."

Sasuke looked over and waved. Shizune smiled and waved back. The two sat back in their seats, Sasuke was happy he would have someone to talk to in the class, or at least someone who knew he wasn't going to abduct students, give them weird diseases and then cast their bodies into the furnace like a certain someone had. Nor was he one to then break out of jail and secretly pursue his nephew, he didn't have a nephew, and Itachi wasn't finding anyone to date being at work twenty-four seven. He just sat there wondering how they could even begin to think that he was like Madara.

It was an office in the fifth story of a nice glass tower that gleamed in the dying golden orange sun. Inside it left everything in a calming and yet secretly exciting peach color. It was always nice to work over and be able to see the colors filter in his office which he shared with two other people. Their desk were facing the walls, his was facing the windows. He didn't deal with clients directly, he dealt with suppliers now, and he loved it, and the big raise was a bonus. By saving up and living in a small apartment with the car that looked like someone had driven it off the Grand Canyon, he almost had enough of his own money to buy a house. Itachi felt good at that thought.

Itachi stared at a picture of what he wanted. It was a small house in the country with a fence, and a good portion of land. In the corner there was a little dilapidated barn where the red paint was chipping and the roof sank in the middle, of course that wasn't in the ad, he drove by and saw it. It's what made him fall in love. It made him fall in love so much, he traded the realtor a 750 dollar coupon for a six night cruise to make him not show it for a while, but he had enough now, he could put a bid on it. He had to put his school loans on the six month grace period, but it didn't matter to him about what he'll have to pay next month, he could have his house next week.

Happily Itachi picked up his work phone and called Huston, the realtor who had just gotten back from a delightful cruise. It rang three times and with each ring Itachi tapped his pen on his table three times, at the fourteenth tap the phone was answered. "Paradise Acres realeste, Huston here. How may I help you?"

"Huston, it's Itachi. I'm ready to put in a bid on the Canary street house." Itachi buzzed in his chair as happy as he could be. He waited for a second here typing on the computer and the ruffling of papers.

"Well, you're in luck. I was going to start showing it again tomorrow, but if I could get you to sign the papers, I could possibly get it in to them tonight and get you an answer." He said happily knowing he was going to get commission off the house. "And I have to say, the nights in the Caribbean are really something."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Itachi said and immediately started selling. "If you guys start doing international sales for our area, remember us for their logging. We're always looking for new ways to expand our business."

"Can do. So the paper, can you drop by?"

"Could you fax them?" Itachi quickly gave the fax number and confirmed he had gotten it right. "Just fax it over and I'll fax it back as soon as possible."

"Great, just great." Huston said in his happy 'I know you're going to get this house' voice and they ended the conversation. The fax machine just outside his office went off fourty-seven taps of his pen later. He got up sticking his pen behind his ear and watched as a five-paged official bid packet came through. Itachi picked it up and signed his name six times and wrote '$145,000' in jet-black ink. He quickly put the papers in order face down and sent them back. After the machine had shut off, he took the papers and sat down. It was already inspected, the only problems being with the barn and some leaky plumbing. He had nothing to worry about but bidding higher, in which he'd have to go see his little brother and have an uneasy conversation about never wanting to borrow money then ask for a large sum of it.

He put his feet up on the desk, content and began to fall asleep, just waiting for the call back. There was a shuffling in the back ground like feet on carpet, and something that sounded like a sniffle. Itachi then felt a tap on his shoulder. "Itachi…. Itachi…"

"That had better not be you Deidara." Itachi said and opened his eyes to see him standing above him in some dirty pants and a tee-shirt. "First, how did you get in here?"

"I learned how to pick locks."

"How did you know I was here?"

"I stopped by your apartment and the mansion."

"Why are you here?"

"Can I crash with you?" Deidara said with a pathetic face on. Itachi turned away in disgust and turned his computer on. He opened up a file and began to ignre Deidara. "I know you don't like me that much and I kind of hate you… But I've mooched off Sasori too much and Kisame creeps me out! I just need a place to stay until I find an apartment!"

"Go stay at Black Bird, or call Sasuke and ask if you can stay in the mansion, but you are not staying in my apartment. I've to many breakables and you look like you need to blow something up." Itachi said a little angry. "Anyway, I'm still willing to kill you over what you did in summer."

"A bar fight is nothing, lots of people get into bar fights. We see two on the news a week." Deidara said and turned Itachi around. "Please."

"I'm busy, and I'm waiting for a very important call." Itachi said and began pulling up travel information. "I have thirteen flights to schedule and seventy-two hotels check out in the next month, I'm not going to be here starting tomorrow for a week, you can't stay with my even if I liked you."

"Fine, Sasuke's still nice to me…" Deidara said and walked over to someone's desk to sit down in there chair. He began going through his saved numbers and hit dial. He waited a minute before he heard hello.

"Brain diagramming is going on the weirdest things I've done on day one." Sasuke said as he watched Shizune carefully place a tooth pick into the frontal lobe of a gooey grey brain. Attached to the tooth pick was a little flag type "Personalilty" in friendly letters. "It could be worse though. We could be doing this in Kisame's private autopsy lab."

"Ew…" Shizune said replying quietly. She backed up and looked at her work. She was being over precise, every tooth pick had to be exactly a half an inch from the surface and the fag displaying neatly foreword. Sasuke handed her "Hearing" and she began turning the brain to place it on the side in the correct position. "Okay, next one."

"Speech." Sasuke handed the tooth pick to her and heard his phone go off. He reached down in his pocket and pulled it out only to have Kisame snatch the phone from him and answer it. "Hello, this is…"

"YOUR BROTHER'S BEING MEAN TO ME!" Kisame pushed the phone back at Sasuke as the entire class heard the conversation.

"I AM NOT!"

"CAN I COME STAY WITH YOU?"

"GO FALL OFF A CLIFF!"

"I DON'T DESERVE THAT!"

"YOU GOT ME A 500 DOLLAR TICKET!"

"I SAID I WAS SORRY!"

"Next time have your phone off." Kisame said through the yelling over the phone. After a while it stopped and Deidara calmly asked if he was there. Sasuke picked it up and sighed. "If you ever call me again screaming I'm going to have you black listed from every restaurant in town, do you understand?"

"Sorry, can I stay at the mansion for a while? I need to find an apartment here." Deidara said and he sounded pouty. In the background Itachi could be heard snickering at Deidara. "He's being mean…"

"New York must have really done a number on you…" Sasuke said. "The back doors unlocked, you just have to get over the fence. If you can't get in call back."

Sasuke slammed his phone shut. Kisame walked over. "Was Deidara sounding…"

"Something must have happened to him in New York, mugging or something." Sasuke muttered. He didn't think anything of it and went back to helping Shizune.

Class got out for Naruto an hour earlier than it did for Sasuke. He and Gaara quickly got up, jumped over a couple seats and corner Hinata. Gaara grabbed her bag and Naruto helped her up out of her chair. "Thanks for the help."

"So what happened to your leg?" Naruto asked. She leaned on him for a second and she grabbed her crutches. "If someone beat you up I'll…"

"Neji was teaching me how to ski when we went up to Canada, I hit a tree and my leg bent the wrong way." Hinata said quietly. She sighed and took her backpack from Gaara putting it on. "It's kind of embarrassing…"

"I fell out of a tree and fractured my skull once." Naruto said trying to cheer her up. "I had to get staples put in. You remember that year I started school with a shaved head?"

"I've broken both my wrists and six ribs." Gaara said in a down tone. "Never fence my brother, he can't separate it from actual warfare…" Naruto and Hinata stared at him. Gaara just shrugged and left muttering about coffee.


	6. The Note

"He's a direct feed." Madara said excitedly. He was pacing back and forth like he didn't know how to express his joy at that knowledge. He eventually decided he should stop and sit down, it wasn't good for a man his age to get that excited without having a heart attack. "If we do this, we will be able to find Nine. Think about it, I'll be finally able to live forever! " He stopped and looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him uncaring and not thrilled. "And you can get money and killing and whatever I suppose."

"He's going to kill us all before any of that happens, which is why Hidan and Kakuzu are going." Orochimaru said walking into the room with bandages all over his face. Only one of his eyes and his mouth were uncovered. He sat down in a chair next to Madara and crossed his leg calmly. "My face is still healing, even with alteration."

"Alright, so here's the plan, you two simply put this note on his dorm room door." Madara held it out to Kakuzu. Kakuzu came forward from the back corner and took the little piece of paper from him. He shoved it in his pocket and looked at the mask. Madara continued. "Then you go to the location and wait for him. Grab him and we will be on our way. Orochimaru will then tell Minato that if he doesn't surrender Nine's location, we will kill his son."

"Can we kill the brat anyway?" Hidan asked. He stood up next to Kakuzu and pulled out a knife and twirled it around in his fingers. "If we threaten and he doesn't hold up we get to kill him, it's not like we have to show him as evidence. Once the kid doesn't show up he's going to know something's going on."

"No, I don't want to piss him off too much." Madara said as he grabbed the knife from the crazed killer. "If we press too hard and he finds a dead body… I'm afraid we won't survive that long. Look at what he did to Orochimaru with a single hit."

Hidan looked over at what he would refer to as wasted bandages. He scoffed and turned to walk out the door with Kakuzu directly on his trail. "Fine, I won't kill him much."

"Don't even scratch him, not one little bit!" Madara yelled quickly. Hidan growled and walked out the screen door complaining. Kakuzu shook his head. "I do admit the loss of blood has started to affect me too. I do miss when we got to kill people."

"We were trying to kill him two years, can't let me finish the job…" Hidan stuck his tongue out while getting in the passenger side door. He started yelling, all of which was muffled by the closed up car. Kakuzu saw this through the driver's side window and decided to wait until it was quiet enough to get in.

Hidan and Kakuzu had to wait until the hall was cleared out of students since any of the upper classmen might have recognized them as being a part of Madara's gang. After a second the two popped out of the bushes and ran into the building. They approached the door number they were given and Hidan was handed the note.

He placed the note on the door and stuck out his other hand, open and empty. Kakuzu just stared at him. Hidan grunted at him and waited still. Kakuzu shrugged his shoulder. "Tape. I need tape, you dumbass."

"I don't have any." Kakuzu said and Hidan lowered the note down off of the door slowly. Hidan turned around and looked at him seriously then face palmed muttering about the incompetence of the people he had to work with, something that was more suite to what Kakuzu might have done. "Madara didn't give me any tape."

"Next time take a second and a little fucking initiative! How hard is it to go 'I'm sticking a note on a door, maybe I need some fucking tape!" He waited a second and calmed down from his angry whisper but it didn't stop his eye from twitching for a second. He looked around and didn't see any open doors he could get into. "Well, shit!"

"Keep it down." Kakuzu said and rummaged around in his pockets. His wallet wasn't going to help them here unless a tape vendor happened to come by. Hidan took a second and came up with his own idea. He reached into his sock and pulled out a Swiss army knife and flipped the blade out. He was about to jam the bade through the knife and stick it to the door when Kakuzu snickered. "A knife? Wow, really dad-like. Did you remember it's supposed to be from him? We have to keep cover."

"Fine, do it your way." Hidan said and shoved the note at him. He closed his knife and shoved it into his pocket for quick access. Kakuzu stared at the door and noted the eye hole. Eye holes never fit exactly to the door. He placed the note flat and slid the very top edge under so it would be held there. "Show off! Look at me, I'm Kaku…"

"Shut up, you're always too loud." Kakuzu said trying to silence him for a little bit. He nodded over to the left and the end of the hall. The student gardens were about fifty feet straight out of the freshman dorms, It was more than fortunate that nobody ever went there in fear they'd run into the garden who was very, very scary. Kakuzu began walking away. "Come on, the next part is you."

"If the next part was mine, I'd just kill him. Killings a lot easier then kidnapping. Kidnapping you got signs of a struggle, plus you've got someone to look after. We'd be better off killin' the fuckin' bastard and letting his dad get all emotional." Hidan said outright just as a student rounded that corner he stared a bit and Kakuzu needed to save the moment. The student was somewhat wide-eyed at the conversation and that's when Hidan saw him. Both their hands went into their pockets.

"You're never going to make that play! You don't put any emotion into it. Why would I ever cast you! For the last time, he's completely insane, he's happy when he says it! He…" He watched as the student kept going, now thinking it was a lines in the make-believe play. Hidan looked at him funny then he smiled understanding how Kakuzu had just saved them from a disasterous occurrence with an unneed death.. "Keep it down, there are students here, and we can't get caught."

"Mister up tight. Come on; let's go play in the bushes." Hidan said just as another student came around the corner. Hidan didn't care, he kept walking. Kakuzu received the strange glare. He grimaced and was upset he didn't have him gun on him. He was too old to take on Hidan now without a weapon and knew it. It upset him.

"One day… one day I'm going to kill you, I can't decide if I just want to get rid of you, though or make it slow and painful so I can enjoy wathing you suffer for your annoyances." Kakuzu said and laughed a deep menacing laugh. He followed Hidan closely imagining his hands around his neck closing in tighter and tighter. They'd then come together and close, and he would be no more. "In fact, I can also harvest your body and sell the organs… I could make a decent profit off you. I wonder how much Orochimaru would pay to play with you."

"But then who will tell you how ugly you are?" Hidan said like it was an honest worry. He turned around and walked backwards for a few steps with a straight face then smiled. "I mean really, most people are too cautious to tell you that you look like a beat up old shit of a dog that should be shot, not for the dog's sake, but so the owner stops throwing up when he looks at the fucked up expression on your face."

"If I had my gun on me…" Kakuzu said remembering the knife in Hidan's sock. 'I bet I can get to it before he can pull out one of his other knives.' The image of Kakuzu stabbing him to death with his own knife then running to Madara saying he deserved it or better yet that he had been a casualty of what they had been doing began to become priceless and more so like a great plan, but Hidan's rant continued despite the murderous thoughts in the banker's head.

"Great, then you can commit suicide!" Hidan smiled and walked into the student gardens smiling and thinking about how he should also take down Kakuzu, not for fun or his own amusement, but because it would be the polite thing to do. He pondered this for a while until they came across a small iron and wood bench with the engraving 'Live to Learn' on it in big cursive letters and underlined by the tail of a star. Hidan scoffed at it and went behind it into a large shrub. Pressing through he found a small path that was very familiar. It was Madara's running path. When Madara donated the garden, he offered to also design and build it. He then hired the garden himself, someone hideous to scare the kids away. Hidan waited a second and Kakuzu pressed through the thick shrubbery. "I've decided next Thursday, I'm going to kill you by drowning you by pushing you off a large ship. I'll consider it mercy upon me."

"One day…" Kakuzu said. He walked through and dusted off the needles from the bush.

It was the last coffee shop open at the end of college row. He had opted to go alone as it was no big deal but she was his big sister, and as big sister's go she was over protective. Temari walked along side him as he held a tray of four fresh cups and sighed. Temari draped an arm around Gaara knowing exactly why he was upset. "I know, back home the coffee shops stayed open until twelve, not ten, but maybe you should just… You drink too much coffee. You know it too."

"It happens." Gaara said bushing the sentiment off as nothing more than her usual nagging. "How are you classes going?"

"Good, except textures, it's kind of retarded. 'What texture is this…?' Please, I don't need to know ceiling tile textures, you can't feel the ceiling, and if you do often, you need a different house." Temari said causing her little brother to laugh a bit. She reached in her pocket suddenly and sighed as she read a small text message on the screen of her phone. "I have to go, my student is freaking out over her design project."

"How is tutoring going?" Gaara asked her. He remember how at the beginning of the last year she said she would never help anyone else because it would take away her advantage. She seemed to think of it differently now. She shrugged. "No complaints as usual?"

"Not bad, it's good pay at least. I'll drop by tomorrow morning around 6, I'll catch you for breakfast." Temari took off running down the street with ease, as a sprint running champ would Gaara thought about it for a second, 'But I don't want to be eaten, oh well, she is older.' He smiled to himself and his goofy thought. The rest of the walk to his dorm room was filled with silence, street lights and the trees rustling around him as he drank one of the coffees. He entered the freshman hall and turned left where his dorm room door was. He stopped and saw a yellow piece of paper stuck under the eye hole. '_Naruto-I'm going for a walk, I'll be in the student gardens. You should come join me. – Dad' _

Gaara plucked it off the door. He'd tell Naruto when he came in the room seeing as parents weren't allowed to crash in dorm rooms. He fumbled for his keys in his pocket and pulled them out sticking the thick steel one in the lock. He turned it and opened the door then turned himself so he could balance his coffee easier. As he turned, he saw Minato lying asleep on Naruto's bed with a bag of mini-doughnuts and a 2-liters of soda pop. He also had Jiraiya's latest book as a pillow. Gaara thought for a second. 'Note from Minato – Minato equals note from ?'

Gaara thought a second and decided it was best to go investigate himself. Maybe Minato had forgotten to take down the note, but it looked like he had been there all day. Gaara set the coffee down on his nightstand and tossed the note down on Naruto's. He sneaked back out, shut the door, reversed the lock and left jingling his keys in his hand thinking carefully about the outcomes that may await him from this venture.

Gaara exited the freshman dorms and headed down a small rock paved path to a giant hedge maze. He entered and took a few second to observed things here. Gaara had never been in the gardens before and thought they were rather plain. There were very little flowers here, everything was formal hedge work. "This place is boring."

"Get 'um." Came from the bush on the right. Gaara saw as a hand came through and grabbed his wrist. It tugged on his pulling him through. He then stood before Hidan and Kakuzu both who had just realized they grabbed the wrong person. Gaara stared at them and had flash back to the papers and news from two years ago, they were Madara's men. Hidan scratched his head and smiled. "Um… We're campus, we thought you might have been a drug dealer were looking for, sorry about the tug, you are free to go."

Gaara punched him in the face and sent him flying through the bush behind him. He turned to kakuzu and cracked his knuckles. Kakuzu did the same. "You think you can… Huh!"

Gaara lowered himself a bit and spun on the dewed grass; he stuck out his leg quickly and knocked Kakuzu over on his back. Gaara knelt down next to him and Held his fist above Kakuzu's head, cocked and ready to slam down into his nose. "What do you want with Naruto Uzumaki?"

"We don't want him, we want his dad." Kakuzu said flatly. Gaara starred at him for a minute. Kakuzu smiled. "You don't know a damn thing do you? You're just some guy who doesn't know what he's getting himself into. Well, I'm not the one to hold secrets. His father is genetically modified by some crazy bastard who is immortal by now. We're going to take his DNA and replicate the modifications into Madara and a few others… You don't even know how deep this goes kid. You're messing in something that will get you killed."

Gaara heard a noise behind him and rolled to the left quickly to avoid getting hit on his back. He then saw Hidan with his fist on Kakuzu's stomach. Kakuzu screamed as Hidan let go of a small knife. "You fucking stabbed me!"

"Well, shit, I'm sorry, the bastard moved, uh… I'll call Orochimaru." Hidan said and picked up his phone to begin dialing. He watched as Kakuzu passed out from blood loss. "Hey, I accidentally stabbed Kakuzu, come save him, student gardens."Hidan looked up at Gaara, grabbed Kakuzu and tossed him over his shoulder. Slowly he walked off into the bushes leaving Gaara alone. He turned around saw a shadowy figure standing a few feet away. Gaara stood there, and so did the shadow.


	7. White Boxers with Sharks on Them!

Naruto opened the door to his dorm room quietly hearing a loud bit of snoring from the inside. He stuck his head in and found his dad hunched over and smiled. 'Yes, he's still here! My Dad's still here!' Naruto wanted to make a happy squealing noise. He didn't know what to do to celebrate his happiness.

Naruto walked over to the table with a large bag of fast food and found a small yellow note. Naruto picked it up and read it from the street light coming through the dorm window. He sat the bag down and turned to his father shaking him away. "Hey Dad, Dad."

"Um? Hey kiddo, do you need your bed?" Minato said turning over smiling. He place a hand on Naruto's head, swishing the hair around a little, and smiled like he was going to fall over asleep again. Instead Minato heaved the top part of his body up and sat up slowly, yawning and . Naruto picked up the note and handed it to him. Mianto took it and sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Um, did you write this note?" Naruto asked. He sat on the bed next to his dad. Minato was still trying to clear his eyes from sleep as Naruto explained. "I found it on the bedside table when I came in. It seemed… weird."

"Hm?" Minato finally looked at it. He tilted his head for a second and tried to make out the words through his dizziness. "I didn't do this, why would it be inside? …Come on."

Minato jumped up and swung open the door. "Right." Naruto left right behind his dad and slammed the door shut.

* * *

The shadow moved closer to Gaara, and as he did the distinct look of slick black hair tied back and the muscular tattoed build came into better view. Gaara smiled and waved. "Hi Sasuke, you just missed some of your uncle's loonies, they went that way if you're looking for them."

Sasuke kept walking up to him until he was barely a foot away. He grabbed Gaara by the shirt and forced him back against the bush. Sasuke growled. "What do you know?"

"What do _you_ know that you think I know?" Gaara asked. Sasuke dropped his shirt and took a step back. Sasuke scratched his head. "Being civil, nice play. Now, where did you come from?

"I'm just being nice because Naruto told me to, but it won't last for long." Sasuke asked him the first question again, this time without the threatening demeanor. Gaara just shrugged. "This isn't something to play games with those guys were bad news. If you know something, you can be in serious trouble."

"I know that, remember their faces being posted up everywhere along with your uncles." Gaara said. He then smiled. It was a bad trait of Gaaras. He loved to pick. "And yours."

"You little…" Sasuke grabbed his shirt with his left hand and raised his right fist. His fist came down but Gaara moved and Sasuke's hand went into the brush barely scrapping Gaara's ear. Sasuke stopped for a minute because he heard something, footsteps on the concrete down the way.

"Hey!" He was right. Sasuke let go of Gaara and turned around to see Naruto's father standing over him. Minato quickly shoved Sasuke away. "Sasuke, go over by Naruto and calm down."

Sasuke looked over to see Naruto running up and stopping a couple yards off. Sasuke took a deep breath and pointed a finger at Gaara. He looked at Naruto desperately. "He is up to something."

"Gee thanks. I'm the one who gets jumped and I'm up to something?" Gaara pointed out quickly."Or how about that when they flee you show up and start interrogating me. That was convenient wasn't it? You just appeared here."

Sasuke began to raise his fist again but Naruto grabbed it. Sasuke pulled his arm away as he took off down the sidewalk. Naruto watched him go and signaled with a look to his father that he was going to purse the raging man. Naruto turned and began running towards Sasuke. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke stopped and sighed. In lapse of what to do Sasuke stuck his hand out and held his fingers open. Naruto caught up and interlocked his hand with Sasuke. Naruto stared at him for a minute until Sasuke looked at him with a small smile just for him. "Come on Naruto let's get going. I have a night class in twenty."

* * *

"Where was the note?" Minato asked Gaara. His tone of voice gave no room for lenience on the matter and Gaara gulped a bit. Minato watched him and calmed down slightly. "You are not in trouble, I assure you. I just need to know what happened. Where did you find the note?"

"Slid under the peep hole of the door."

"You left it on the table?" Gaara nodded and watched the expression on his face turn. Minato scratched his head completely perplexed. "Why didn't you wake me? It was obviously something to do with me and Naruto."

"I thought Naruto might have been upset if you weren't there when he got back. I know the concept of family might be new to you, but my dad was constantly in and out of the house and in between trips to Iraq. It hurts when someone says their back and they leave again." Gaara looked around and sighed. "I can handle myself, Uncle Sasori made sure."

"He's the one who gave you the sword?" Minato asked remembering when Madara and Orochimaru had decided to visit. "He knew you would use it?"

"Family tradition, that and fencing lessons. Both my siblings have ones under their beds too." Gaara added. "I didn't do anything wrong... Well, the sword might be illegal here on campus but I'd doubt either you or Naruto would care, and it's not like Madara can tell the police."

"I know that, but you did something stupid." Minato turned around and made sure the two were gone. "Why was Sasuke trying to attack you?"

"We don't like each other that much. Never have."

"Hm…" Minato nodded and sighed. "Let's get back to the dorm… I don't have a key to get in."

* * *

"You didn't have to freak out like that." Naruto yelled at him. As soon as he had tried to discuss it, Sasuke blew the converstation off and tried to walk faster. Naruto wasn't going to put up with him right now. "He's a good friend and on top of that he's my roommate, you can't go trying to punch my roommate! I'll get expelled."

"Naruto he took on two of Madara's men, and on top of that I don't like him." Sasuke said as if Naruto was missing the big picture. Sasuke stopped and grabbed Naruto by the shoulders really looking at him. "I think you should switch roommates. It'd make me a lot happier."

"Well I'm not. You two are just going to have to learn to get along." Sasuke sighed and called out his name in a little plea but the blonde rejected it. "Let's face it Sasuke from day one you automatically zoned in on him to pick at non-stop. You hate him and you don't know why. Admit it."

"Please change roommates. I have a bad feeling about him, that's all." Naruto shook his head and grabbed booth hands holding them. "And he's creepy; he always has those bags under his eyes."

"You have red eyes and he's creepy?" It made Naruto happy to know Sasuke was being that silly about it. He smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Just try to be nicer. I love you."

"I love you too." Sasuke said and pulled into him. They kissed, exchanging chapsticks and a quick, playful slip of Naruto's tongue. The moved apart smiling; Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hands and led him up to the building where Sasuke had his next class.

"Enjoy your class." Naruto said hopeful his mood had changed.

Sasuke shrugged. "I will, as much as I can enjoy advanced essay writing." Sasuke let go and headed into the building waving goodbye. As the doors shut Naruto turned around to see some familiar faces walking towards him.

"Hey Shika. Hey Tenten." He waved and they walked up ending their conversation about the easiest way to be prepared for a class with no books. Naruto smiled. "You in the same class as Sasuke?"

"We're the lucky ones, we get to take it this year instead of next year." Tenten said sarcastically.

"What Tenten is meaning to say is that we tested out of the essay class and got put in this one saving us a couple thousand." Shikamaru put a dismal twist on it and sighed. "I think I'd rather test out of this one too."

"Are you in it?" Tenten asked as a group of sophomores walked by grumbling. "That's be awesome to have a class clown in it."

"No, I'm just walking Sasuke to class. Well, you two had better get going. I heard from Jiraiya that Kakashi is the teacher." Naruto smiled and watched their face change in surprise.

"No way!" Tenten said. "If he was our teacher…!"

"Yes way, I got my masters over the summer. Now go and find seats, we'll start soon." The two nodded and ran in excited about the fact their teacher was a goof. "Naruto, you should have tested in too."

"I slept through the test, it was on a Saturday." Naruto smiled making Kakashi sighed. "Later, Kakashi. I'll see you at poker this Saturday?"

"Yep, remind Jiraiya we're playing with small bags of snack foods this time." Naruto nodded and walked away feeling the reminder was for him too. He decided to head to the student store to stock up; he'd need at least ten.

* * *

Deidara walked into the large mansion and stretched his arms out wide. He had a tough time climbing the fence and then the key had been moved from the flower pot on the right to under the mail box. He sighed and began walking down the hall when he heard something. There was a banging and Deidara grabbed the gun he still carried. He walked slowly down the hall like he was a secret agent and turned the corner to see the kitchen light on.

As he approached the kitchen Deidara took a deep breath and reminded himself that even if he killed someone, bleach was 5.99 and Sasuke has a big fenced yard. Deidara grabbed the gun tighter and flipped around the door frame pointing the gun. "Freeze!"

"No. Fuck off." Kisame said pulling a piece of chicken out of his mouth. He looked at Deidara in his suit and suddenly felt out of place wandering around in a pair of white boxer with little sharks on them. He shrugged and put the chicken piece back in his mouth and took another bite. He chewed it while watching Deidara put the gun away. The large man swallowed and looked at him pointing with the food. "Good choice, 'cause if you shot me, I'd dismember you and hide your body parts around town."

"What are you doing here? Sasuke didn't tell me you were staying here."

"My house burned down." Kisame said and finished the piece off and grabbed another one.

"That sucks." Deidara said. Kisame shrugged.

"I did it, the floor broke open so I decided to hell with it. Burned down the neighbors too, they deserved it. I think they said they were planning on moving back to Miami." Kisame said pleased with himself. He held out a tray of freshly baked chicken. "I found a recipe in the cupboard, it's pretty good."

"You are a piece of work. I'm going to go crash." Deidara said think all this was nonsense. He left the room with his mind not wrapping around things completely.

"I took the room with the center balcony." There was a second of silence and then a gun shot hit one of the hanging pans denting it leaving the bullet to fall onto the counter below. "I'm telling Sasuke." Several more shots hit the pan.

* * *

_Hi there, thought I would toss a little note here at the end. I will hopefully be updating more on a weekly basis as I'm only on one class right now. I looked foreword to hearing from you, and yes, I do read all the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions, but take it easy on me okay? I still very busy with boyfriend (oh my boyfriend, he looks like Itachi, no joking and yes, I do love it and am planning on getting him a coat, I already gave him the scarlet ring), job hunt and housework._


	8. Dorm Life

"You've never had a game boy?" Gaara asked in some disbelief. He had done the calculations, but still a game boy is a game boy and everyone should have been exposed to them at one time or another. Gaara reached his hand under the bed and pulled out a small black case and unzipped it. He removed a bulky grey gaming system and put a grey cartridge in it and handed it to Minato. "I can't believe you've never had a gameboy."

"I am old." Minato said in his defense. Gaara showed him how to switch it on and it began powering up.

"This thing probably was out for maybe a year before I left or so."

"You're not that old." Naruto said and moved over to Minato seeing Mario pop up on the screen.

"So, it's pretty easy, we'll start you out on the original. Just press the button to jump, that's this one, use the directional arrows to move. This button turns lets you tunnel and attack from above the enemies." Gaara said trying to give him a basic understanding. "This will change from game to game, but most like this one are the same."

"Just jump over everything and don't fall down a hole." Naruto added. "It's a simple game once you get timing down."

"I used to have this on Super Nintendo…" Minato noted and began playing slowly. He then came across a series of leaps in the game and failed to make the second one. He sighed. "I died already."

"It'll take time." Naruto said and continued to watch death after death of the little plumber. Gaara went back to his bed and pulled open his laptop and began going through e-mails. He found one from Temari and opened it up to see pictures of her latest design project. Gaara smiled at the design.

"Naruto, come see this." Gaara said shoving his laptop back some on his lap. Naruto got up off his bed and flopped down next to Gaara starring a bright colorful space. Gaara began scrolling through the pictures displaying a round bed, floor to ceiling fish tank and the entire team dressed up in hippie clothing. "This is Temari's group's room. They did hippie as a theme."

The walls had swirled golds, pinks, and greens mixed in with huge colorful furniture and lava lamps everywhere. "Wow, it's so swirly. We should so have her design our room. That looks like Austin Power's flat."

"Who's Austin Powers?" Minato asked innocently. Naruto and Gaara looked at each other

"I'll get the movie from the common room." Naruto sighed and got up off the bed looking at his father with a weird smile. He shook his head slightly. "It's so weird having someone so out of the culture. It's going to take weeks to get you up to speed with things."

"Look at it this way, I know exactly where to take you when you turn twenty-one. There's this little bar just across the border…" Naruto and Gaara stopped to look at him like he was strange and didn't fit it. Minato just smiled and looked down at the game trying to figure out how to work the controls better. "I take it neither of you have ever been across the border, maybe for Spring Break then, I know this place that doesn't card."

* * *

"So, how have things been going? I haven't talked with you since the beginning of summer. Naruto says next term you'll be a sophomore and be able to move out of the dorms." Kakshi said walking along Sasuke who had elected to stay behind and help him clean up the mess from their project. Kakashi decided that the advanced class should just do most of the work outside the classroom and assigned a fifty count bibliography for their papers on how the country is doing. They spent most of class silly stringing each other and picking out the teams for their papers. Sasuke ended up working with Tenten and Shikamaru as they were the only other two from his grade in the class. They decided to do how the country is failing because of political strife. "Finally be able to live in your mansion."

"It's about time, I've been renovating and updating it for two years." Sasuke said. "Just got the pool fixed up over summer. Talked Itachi in to putting these water safe track lights that change colors, I can have my own pool disco."

"As soon as you go through the papers declaring Minato undead, you should be able to let Naruto move in with you. I know Jiraiya wanted him to stay in the dorms the first year, but dorm life isn't anything special if you've lived in a poorly taken care of apartment building." Kakashi said. He looked at the dorm room door to see Sasuke last name inscribed on it. "Well this is you. I'll see you next week, oh, and make sure Shikamaru actually does some of the work."

"We already told him he has to do ten minimum and get them to us by tomorrow night." Sasuke said reassuring him. He nodded to him and Kakashi began walking away pulling out a book. Sasuke reached for the door knob and heard Kakshi mutter something to some one. Sasuke looked up and saw Itachi walking over to him casually with his jacket slung over his shoulder. "_Mon frere! _Guess what I just did!"

"By your happiness yet boringness I'm going to say you found a nice silver ware collection." Sasuke then stuck out his tongue and gavea big grin. "How off am I?"

"The draw, cabinet, kitchen and house." Itachi said and pulled out an envelope. Sasuke took it and pulled the papers out and saw the big word 'Deed' at the top.

"You bought a house behind my back? You know I could have…"

"Who bought a house?" Suigetsu said opening the door to butt in on the conversation. The two looked at him. "I've been waiting with my ear against the door for Karin, I wanted to scare the Hell out of her."

"I'm so glad your relationship is going so well." Sasuke said in his most sarcastic tone. He patted Suigetsu on the head and pushed the door open letting Itachi in. "So, we have to help you move."

"Tomorrow. I was going to stay with you two tonight." Itachi said walking by Sasuke. The room was divided horribly. It started with the window, on Suigetsu's Half he had hung up an old tee-shirt to keep the sun out and reinforced it with push pins. Sasuke put up a blue curtain that was tied back. Suigetsu's wall was covered in band posters. Sasuke's wall had a cork pushpin board with several pictures of Naruto and himself up there along with sheets of assignments. "Wow, you two need to find a cohesive design for this place."

"I wanted to paint is black." Suigetsu said as Sasuke shoved him in the room. Sasuke watched as Itachi strolled over to his bed and flopped down. He threw his legs up and leaned against the wall with his hands behind his head. He sighed smiling as Sasuke shut the door and sat down next to his big brother. Suigetsu went back to hovering around the door.

"What made you decided to stay here?" Sasuke asked as he crossed his legs and stared at Itachi. "I'd imagine you have to start getting ready."

"Figured I didn't want go back to the apartment, I'd start packing immediately and I don't even have boxes yet." Itachi sighed and starred at the band posters, most of them horrifying in some way.

"I'll pay for them." Sasuke said quickly.

"I'll pay for them, Sasuke. They aren't that expensive. I think I can cover twenty dollars." Itachi muttered. He poked Sasuke in the forehead quickly and turned to watching Suigetsu stalk the door. "So, how have classes been going for you, Suigetsu?"

"Horrible, this stupid broad that doesn't shut up is in everyone of my classes!" He said turning around angrily. "All she does is talk about clothes and hair. Even during Alegbra!"

"Ino?" Sasuke asked quickly looking at him with a weird look. "Blonde with long hair, female version of Deidara?"

"Yea… You know her?" Suigetsu asked and went back to his ear to the door.

"Yea." Sasuke starred at him for a minute.

Suigetsu sighed and sat down cross legged with a scowl on his face. "Freakin' 'I think the project is a stupid idea, we should do something more colorful, blah blah blah.' How colorful is a presentation of the quadratic equation?"

He scratched his head in a very feral manner and growled lowly at the thought. All the while Sasuke simply starred at him confused. "You don't remember Ino from High School?"

"Why, should I?" He asked.

"She's like Karin's best friend." Sasuke said surprised. "Karin blew off your one year to go on a shopping spree with her! They spent the summer joined at the hip."

"Oh… Karin doesn't talk to me about her friends." Suigetsu said and Sasuke face-plamed harder than he ever had before. "Dude, how am I supposed to remember every one of her friends?"

"We ate lunch with her every day for a year." Itachi grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and muttered 'it's useless to continue' but Sasuke pulled away from him.

"I had yogurt everyday for a year and I'm supposed to remember some annoying bitch?"

"They're room mates." Sasuke said simply. Suigetsu shrugged and bit his lip not knowing what to say. "Seriously?"

"Dude… no clue."

"Hopeless." Itachi whispered to his brother. Sasuke flung himself against the wall, more confounded at his best friend's ability not to remember his girlfriend's best friend. His brow furled and he didn't move at all besides the slow breathing in his chest. "So how do you like living in your dorm room?

"I miss being in dorm rooms. I was only here for freshman year and didn't sleep here most of the time, but it was nice." Itachi said quietly. He suddenly smiled and looked over at Sasuke who was glaring at him. "What? I liked it, there was always someone to talk to, I could go into the hall and just have a conversation about anything, usually pizza delivery hours, but sometimes anything."

"Is it too late to get pizza?" Suigetsu asked from the door. He tilted his head and got up on his feet very lightly.

"You have forty minutes to call in an order to anything within pick up distance." Itachi said recalling the hours and places. "I think that the delivery place on College Row next to the game's shop is open until midnight."

"I wonder if they make shrimp pizza." Suigetsu said. He smiled and grabbed the door knob. "Quiet, I hear heels in the hall.

"We'll order our own. I don't like shrimp." Sasuke said in a whisper. He scooted closer to Itachi and looked at him like he was crazy. "Why didn't you tell me you were saving for a house? It's not like I'm going to use all my money. You can have some of it, we both had to put up with Madara."

"But he gave it to you." Itachi whispered back. He sat foreword and sighed lightly. "And because you would have just bought me one. I'm a big boy, I can buy my own house."

"Jabberwocky!" Suigetsu screamed as he opened the door. Karin swung her fist as an reaction and then watched as Suigetsu fell backwards on the floor. He grabbed his nose as swear words began to pour out of his mouth like water. "I think she broke my nose…"

"That's what you get you idiot!" Karin shrieked back. She clicked her tongue and knelt down next to him. She patted his head and looked up at the Uchiha brothers. "I just got off work, someone tipped me fifty dollars with a note saying 'cheer up' and a little flower drawn on it."

"Sweet so you're buying the pizza?" Suigetsu said through breathing. He pinch his nose tight as a small trickle of blood came out and strolled down his left cheek.

"No, it's going into savings or didn't you forget school loans? I can pay off one of this semester's books with it." She said happily. She patted him on the head and walked the few steps over to sit on Suigetsu bed crossing her legs and sitting like a perfect lady. "So, where's our blonde?"

"His father showed up yesterday." Itachi said quickly. It was all he said. Sasuke watched as his jaw slammed shut. '_He's being careful about what he says…' _

"Nearly back from the dead, or at least bottle." Sasuke said somewhat excited he smiled and moved forward letting his legs drift over the edge of the bed and land next to Suigetsu's head. "He's been altered like Itachi and I. They looked exactly alike."

"Wow…" Suigetsu and Karin said in sync. The room stayed quiet until Suigetsu got bored of the floor and decided it was time to phone for pizza. He sat up and grabbed Sasuke's iPhone off the dresser. He handed it to Itachi. "I want a small shrimp pizza, if they can't do shrimp I'll take anchovy."

"I want pineapple." Karin said. "If someone could take up the other half of the pizza, that would be cool."

"Want to do half pineapple half pepperoni, _mon frère?_ I'm not that hungry." Sasuke said blankly. He smiled and got up, "I miss my blonde, I'm going to go say good night."

"Right, I'm going to the medical wing, I'll be back in a minute." Suigetsu said. He followed Sasuke out and slammed the door.

Karin and Itachi starred at each other for a minute.

"Do you see how terrible they are at design?"

"It was the first thing I noticed!"

"He wants to get an apartment with me next year! I can't live with band posters everywhere. I'm a girl, I want something nice and all he wants is grey and knives." Karin slumped and pouted.

"Maybe you could make an arrangement to have some nice display swords on the wall." Itachi suggested. Karin shrugged. Itachi dialed the phone number and waited a second. "Hi, do you guys make shrimp pizzas?... A small…"

Karin stuck her tongue out, grossed out by the idea of shrimp on pizza.


	9. Art is a Wonderful Thing

**Sorry this took so long but here it is! :)**

"Why is Art class starting a week late?" Naruto asked as he and Gaara sat down behind Sai. He was already doodling something in his book even though it was early in the morning. "Aren't we losing out on a week's worth of education or something like that."

"Freshman art always starts one week after all the other art classes. It's so the teacher can secure volunteers to assist the freshman. This year she said she would just need me however as she knew some of the students." Sai replied quickly. He turned around and greeted Gaara quickly. "Also, freshman art is kind of like a feeler class for the student to refine what he or she wants to go into. Most people here already have their four years planned out."

"This teacher's one of the part-time college part-time public, right?" Gaara asked. Sai nodded. "That's cool, the teacher should know one of us then, hopefully."

"Yes, you may remember her, Ms. Mitarashi." Sai asked. Both of them kind of stared at him.

"I don't, do you Naruto?" Gaara asked. Naruto scratched his head for a while.

"It sounds familiar." Naruto said scratching his head trying to place a face with a name. He ended up shrugging and giving up on the thought search. He looked up and saw Anko walk in the room growling into her coffee cup about the staff room not having sugar in it. "Oh hey, what's Anko doing here?"

"That's Ms. Mitarashi." Sai said blankly. "I can't believe she lets you call her…"

"What? Anko's teaching us?" Naruto accidentally out loud. He quickly covered his moth and watched as a demonic gaze ushered over him.

"You got a problem with that, Uzumaki!" Anko yelled back.

"I thought we were going to have an actual teacher." Naruto answered removing his hand. Garra quickly tugged on his arm and told him to shut up. He had come moments too late.

"You get an F for the day, Naruto! Now shut up!" Anko said quickly regaining her composure. She sat on her desk pouring sugar into her coffee. She grabbed an old yellow paintbrush from the cup on her desk and used it to stir.

"That's so unfair!" Naruto argued. "The only thing you should be able to dock is participation!"

"F minus!" Naruto sighed angrily and dropped down in his seat glaring at her with crossed arms. Anko smiled and took a sip of her coffee. "Anyone else want t question my credentials?"

The entire class was paying attention and quiet. "Thought so. Now Freshman art is a little bit like art in middle school, we cover all sorts of art with paint, clay and even scrap metal. There is one big difference, Freshman Art 2 is next semester, and you are only working to your projects to get into your specific art. This week and next week you will have 3 works done every day, hence it being four hours long. Today, we are working with pencil, pen, and water colors.

"Now, for those of you who are in here for an easy A…. It's not easy! I am demanding! I want perfection! This is college!" Anko said as she slammed her coffee cup down. She got up and walked over to the corner where there was a wagon with a large white sheet covering something. "You were all required to pick up a school sketch book and pencil… Now draw this plant!"

Anko ripped the sheet off to show a giant hedge trimmed in the shape of a rose. "If any on you have any questions, need advice, I and my assistant Sai will be glad to help, he's in advanced oil paintings."

Sai stood up and bowed quickly. He sat back down and Anko returned to her coffee cup. Gaara sighed grabbing his backpack. "She's… Wow."

"Yep." Naruto said quietly. He pulled out his note book and pencil and opened to the first page. He started by drawing a circle.

"So, toe gangster..." Anko said sitting down in a seat next to him. "How's your foot?"

"You remember that?" Naruto laughed. "That was embarrassing…"

"Of course, I have a memory like an elephant." Anko said quickly. She took a sip and set down the cup of coffee. "You're in here for an easy A aren't you?"

"Actually, I want to learn to draw. Sasuke is constantly drawing and I never have anything to do when he's doing that." Naruto said honestly.

"That's so cute… Sasuke was one of my favorite… Besides him never showing up to class… Or showing up late to class… Or leaving class early… Or the time he cussed another student out." Anko took another sip of her coffee. "Your boy's got to work on some people skills."

Gaara snickered a bit as he was sketching away. Naruto nudged him and turned back to Anko. "I know… He's just disagreeable."

"And who are you?" Anko said sitting foreword starring at Gaara.

"Gaara." He said simply. He looked at her and saw he hand jut out nearly hitting Naruto in the face.

"Hi, I'm Anko." Gaara took her hand and shook it. "Are you in here for an easy A?"

"No, actually I need to learn cartooning and realism, I want to make political comics and posters."

"Just be careful and try to make it tasteful. Wouldn't want to get tied to the back of a truck and dragged down a quarter mile for something offensive." Anko said standing up.

"Um… okay. Thanks for the advice." Gaara muttered confused.

"Well, I'm off, my student s need me!" Anko quickly rushed off to the next person who look like an 'easy A' student.

"She's crazy." Gaara was astonished at their teacher. "I think she's genuinely crazy."

"Yep, isn't it great?" Naruto muttered. He showed Gaara what he had so far. It was a simple child-like rose. "Should I do leaves or shading next?"

"The bell rang five minutes ago." Sasori noted at Sasuke. They both just sat in their desks quietly starring down at their respective work.

"I'm doing homework." Sasuke muttered. He had actually finished his homework earlier while Sasori was teaching. He was working on a story since his Suigetsu scheduled dorm time with Karin.

"Shouldn't you do that in your dorm or the library." Sasori asked. He was going through papers, also a bluff since they were already graded.

"What if I have questions?" Sasuke muttered quickly. He hadn't added description to the characters yets so decided they would both be Mexicans. _John's deeply tanned arm reached across the cold air. The intensity brought his thick black hair on his head to stand alert._

"You, questions?" Sasori scoffed quickly. "I have things to do."

"You, things to do?" Sasuke scoffed back.

"I wanted to go to lunch."

"You packed a lunch, remember?" Sasuke said and pointed to a brown paper bag across the room. Sasori sighed.

"What's this about?" Sasori asked standing up from his desk leaving the stack of papers alone. He walked around the side and Sasuke quickly shut his story inside.

"Your nephew." Sasuke said quickly. He interlocked his fingers and set them on the desk. His manner remained cool. "I don't like him."

"You've been quarreling with Gaara again, and physically this time, Minato told me over breakfast this morning when he randomly appeared in my kitchen." Sasori said still astonished he would just appear like that.

"He's genetically modified."

"I know." Sasori said. He felt his phone vibrate and checked the name quickly before shoving it away. "We need to have a meeting to discuss this."

"My quarreling or Minato's return?" Sasuke asked tilting his head almost innocently. Sasori shook off a familiar notion and sniffled.

"We'll talk about the quarreling now." He said quickly. He sat down on his desk and looked away. "So…"

"People argue, it happens."

"Yes, but not to the degree at which you two were. Would you like to tell me or should I guess, because I think I know exactly what's going on."

"He's a prick and he shouldn't be around Naruto." Sasuke said firmly. "He's abrasive and I don't want Naruto around him. I don't think a kid with a sword should be playing body guard."

"You're jealous because he's around Naruto. I did place Gaara there for a reason, you know. They are friends for one and secondly Naruto doesn't have any honed fighting skills. Would you rather him go unprotected with Madara on the loose?" Sasuke's head lowered a little in his seat and Sasori saw his confidence in his argument slipping. "Who else could we get to guard him?"

"I should be there!" Sasuke said quickly. "The only reason he would be in danger is because of me.

Sasori slammed his fist on the desk. "It's against the rules, you know that. You will have to deal with the situation until Madara is done for."

"Why should I?" Sasuke asked leaning forward. "Why should I follow what everyone else does?"

"Madara asked that question a lot." Sasuke grabbed his book, pencil and bag, stood up and walked out of the class room.

"I can't believe she really gave me an F for participation today." Naruto said and tossed his head down on the library table. It made a loud thud. Neji and Shikamaru jerked their heads over to him. Both growled.

"You'll get over it, try writing this paper, it's ridiculous." Shikamaru complained. He closed another book and set it off to the side. "I'm almost finished with my part."

"This is why I tested out of that class. The work is too tedious and repetitive." Neji said quickly. He had five articles to pre-edit before handing it off to the chief editor of the newspaper. Neji grumbled. "There is a comma before 'which' for the last time! I swear these new people… They need to be tested for grammar first."

Neji quickly went back into an editing frenzy. Shikamaru sighed and laid his head down on the open book starring at Naruto. "If I was awake when it happened… I would have tested out."

"Neji, when I get in that class…" Naruto popped his head up quickly. "I'm not that good at writing. I can't get all the punctuation right. Can you write my papers?"

"No, but I will offer advice." Neji said and then looked around. "I was thinking of editing papers for 3 dollars a page, no charge for cover page. I'll do that with you, alright? Editing only."

"Cool, thanks." Naruto said. He held out his hand and Neji shook it quickly.

"You're going to be hopeless when we all go into specialty classes." Shikamaru snickered quickly. Naruto stuck his tongue out and sighed.

"I'll find someone to help me…" He said a bit hopelessly.

"Hey Naruto." Gaara said stopping by the table. He was carrying about ten books of horticulture and landscaping. He shifted them back and forth trying to keep the balance of the huge volumes.

"Hey Gaara. I thought you were going to be an art major?" Naruto said turning to him. "Unless you wanted to recreate that rose bush thing Anko had."

Gaara smiled."These are Temari's books, I'm only interested in plants with healing properties."

"What's the hold up?" Temari said pushing him foreword. She looked down at the table. She noticed Naruto and thought. "Oh, you're Gaara's roommate right? He said you were blonde."

"Umm… Hi. Naruto Uzumaki." He stuck out his hand but saw that her hands were full with books too. She sat her books down on the table and shook his hand.

"Temari. We were going out for pizza on me, do you want to come, Shika, you can come too."She offered like he would be an annoying tag along. They glared at each other before Temari picked up her books and Shikamaru went back to the book.

"I am getting hungry. You paying?" He asked not looking up.

"You can work it off." Temari said. She shoved the pile of books over to him. "Carry these to the car? You want to come, Naruto? It's really yummy!"

"Sure." Naruto said standing up. He said goodbye to Neji as he watched Shikamaru pack up and pick up the pile of books. Naruto waited for Shikamaru and exited out in the group. He looked at the siblings. "You two don't look a lot alike for siblings."

"Well, I look like mom, Gaara and Kankuro look like dad. I tried to get us all to get the same red with blonde highlights once but…" She nodded over to Gaara.

"My hair." Gaara grabbed his skull cap and held it down over each ear. Gaara turned to Shikamaru somewhat inquisitively and muttered. "So, how do you two know each other?"

"We worked with each other over the summer as junior assistants to the mayor, my dad made me. I was in charge of organization…" Shikamaru said. He sighed and adjusted the large amount of books in his hands. "I made sure page two came after page one and your sister…"

"I changed out the flowers and decorated." Temari said happily. "I ended up his favorite."

"She wore a mini skirt…" Shikamaru argued.


	10. Like Madara

Temari lead the four to a small door made of glass set between two businesses in the center of College Row. Through the glass a set of stairs was clearly visible leading to a lighted and open upstairs area. The note on the door said 'back in five minutes.' Temari sighed. "This place is run by an elderly couple, they're really sweet. Better than that, homemade pizzas to order! It's awesome, you can even help make it too. It's more a place for kids, but kids are all at school right now so I usually come by."

She threw herself against the brick and looked in the window of the bridal shop next door. She growled as she looked in. The dress she had picked out to be angry at was strapless and was so short the manikin hung out the bottom. "Is it me or are dresses getting more slutty? It's your wedding day not your audition for a porno."

"One day everyone's just going to be naked at this rate…" Shikamaru scoffed. He looked at Naruto. "Jiraiya's not helping any either. In my English class… Freaking pervert he is had everyone write a one page paper on miniskirts and how they are pro-american."

"The zombie apocalypse will fix everything." Gaara said slowly. "One day there will be a sickness strong enough to wipe out much of the population much like the plague but it will cause skin eating as a means to survive and then…. Kevlar will be made in full body suits."

"Sounds heavy. Whatever happened to the Mad Max look." Naruto said feeling his arms. "Nice broken in leather jacket, nice broken in jeans… It's all about comfy when you're dealing with the deranged."

"You two are dumb." Temari said out right. "Any outbreak is monitored and controlled by the CDC. It'd be lucky to spread over five states." The three guys looked at her. They stared until she shifted comfortably. "I dated a guy whose dad works there."

"Number four this year or five?" Gaara asked quietly. Temari hung her head down. She hated the amount of guys she went through but her siblings understood why she did.

"Three. I was with him for a month before he decided not getting any made me not worth it and slept with two freshmen. He still can't find his Xbox." Temari stood up and looked across the street to see the owners approaching in simple dress pants and polo shirts. She smiled and looked over at Gaara. "I got a new high score on the zombie level on black ops last night."

"You're evil." Shikamaru said. They all stepped out of the way and let the owner unlock the door. "Hi Mr. Akimichi."

"Hey there. You two back again, I've got to warn you, the misses is on a pineapple kick." He said laughing slowly at the end. "Let me get this open." He removed the key from the door and opened it up for his wife first then Temari. "Ladies first."

They walked up and then the owner followed. Naruto took after him and Gaara grabbed Shikamaru and made him wait a minute. After the door shut he let go and faced Shikamaru. "Are you going after my sister?"

"Are you going after Naruto?" Shikamaru snapped back quickly. He crossed his arms and stared into Gaara's eyes trying to judge his thoughts. "You didn't think anyone would notice did you. I'm a bit smarter than that."

"That's crazy. Naruto's dating Sasu…" Shikamaru's sighed dismissed the rest of his sentence. His eyes didn't break off for a second. "You caught me. Now what?"

"What nothing. It's none of my business who you go after." Shikamaru said and shrugged. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Break her heart…" Gaara warned pointing a finger. He quickly wrapped it into his fist and his knuckle cracked.

"Same to you. Naruto's one of my best friends." They stared for a minute and Shikamaru held up his hand. Gaara was hesitant but took his hand and shook it. "We don't speak of this with anyone else around."

"Right." Gaara dropped his hand and opened the door, pushing it a bit more as he began up for Shikamaru. The entered to find Temari helping Mrs. Basso chopping onions. "Did you order for us?"

"No, we're making mine. Where did you two go?"

Shikamaru walked in. "There was a bird that thought a squirrel's tale was a pine cone or something. Freakin' hilarious. Feel sorry for the bird. Bet he didn't think squirrels could do that type of damage."

"Men…" Temari muttered. Mrs. Akimichi leaned over and whispered in her ear causing her to giggle. Temari sprinkled the onion on her pizza and picked up the wooden paddle to put it in the oven. "So, you should tell them about the pizzeria's mission."

"We want people to cook for themselves! It's much healthier and cheaper too." Mrs. Akimichi said carefully placing one of her silvery locks behind her ear. "Shika dear, you didn't bring our grandson with you!"

"He's actually in culinary arts right now. I'll have him bring you some dinner. Apparently they are making lasagna today." Shikamaru said. The couple 'oohed.' Mr. Akimichi stepped foreword with a fresh roll of dough and slapped it down on the wooden paddle. "Alright kid, it's your turn."

"I'm Naruto. I'm actually a friend of Chouji's too." Naruto said grabbing a pair of gloves.

"Chouji's got so many friends. Just yesterday a pretty blond was in here with him." Mrs. Akimichi said. "It's a pity she only ate a mini-pizza. She's too skinny."

"You know, I tell her every time she comes here with him, it's perfectly okay, we won't tell if she pigs out, but no!" Mr. Akimichi chortled happily and sat down in a chair next to the work station with Naruto. "So, you want to knead the dough, grab it and roll your fists foreword."

Naruto grabbed the dough and began what he had seen on all those cooking shows he watched with Sasuke over the summer. He wasn't going to say it, but he had done this before.

* * *

"_It's just fancy to pour the sauce in a circle. I saw it on yesterday's show, just watch." Natruo grabbed the ladle from Sasuke's hand and slowly poured the sauce in an even and smooth circle covering every inch of the dough. "See."_

"_If you can cook, why do I need to learn again?" Sasuke joked and wrapped his arms around him._

* * *

Naruto finished kneading and spread flour around the dough while he grabbed the rolling pin. He floured that as well and began rolling the dough out.

"You're pretty good at this, you want a job?" Mr. Akimichi asked. Naruto looked at him. His eyes jolted open in surprise, it made the old man smiled. "It'll be on Friday afternoons. At five each Friday we get a mother and child club in, we need a lot of help. I can't pay you, but I can let you have what's in the tip jar."

"I can do that! What time?" Naruto asked as he started to put on the sauce the same way he did when he was with Sasuke. He knew he wouldn't make much money but smiled at the thought anyway, he'd be able to go and tell his dad and his boyfriend he got his first job.

"They come in a six each Friday, why don't you get here at five, okay?" He stood up and grabbed another dough roll and waved Shikamaru over. "He doesn't need any monitoring, so it's your turn. Strait-up pepperoni again."

"I'm repetitive." He muttered and grabbed the pepperoni out of the fridge. Mr. Akimichi made the dough out into square shape and sauced it. As Shikamaru began peeling them apart he looked over at Naruto who was busy preparing peppers for his pizza. "Why aren't you in a cooking class?"

"Because, I can already cook and cooking and politics don't really go together." Naruto sighed and spread the little chunks everywhere. Mr. Akimichi shoved the cheesed pizza at Shikamaru. Shikamaru quickly dumped pepperoni on it and shoved it in the oven. He set the paddle down and searched around his pockets. "Right, I'm going out for a smoke."

"You and your disgusting habits." Temari mutter. She and Shikamaru glared at each other angrily and before he walked down the stairs and they heard the door close.

Naruto opened the oven and carefully slid his pizza onto the rack. "He's been smoking for quite some time. I don't think it's going to change anytime soon."

"Yea, but how often do you have to put up with smoke?" She asked. Gaara quickly texted her a message. She looked at it and 'ah-ha'-ed quickly. "So you have to put it with it constantly. It's annoying, isn't it?"

"You get used to it." Was all Naruto said. Temari finished chopping up everything for her supreme pizza and tossed it everywhere chaotically. As Temari readied her pizza to go into the oven a loud buzzing noise filled the room. Naruto grabbed his phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello… Ya, where? I'll be right there."

He hung up the phone. "Gaara can you take my pizza, I've got a family emergency. If you can, save me some."

"Sure." He said and watched as Naruto quickly turned around to talk to Mr. Akimichi. "I'll be here at five on Friday, is there a dress code?"

"If you could, child appropriate." He said and smiled shaking his hand. "There's a family emergency, get going, kid."

"Thanks, sir." Naruto dialed up the phone as he rushed down the stairs and out the door. He ran pass Shikamaru yelling about an emergency call. "I'm out on College lane, can I meet you at Black Bird?"

"Yea…" It was nearly a whisper out of Sasuke's mouth. He was strolling out of campus, shaken and disturbed to the core about Sasori's comment. He didn't think he could explain it over the phone and gripped the device tighter as he held back confusion. "I'll be there soon, I'm going to stop and get Jugo a Sobe. I owe him one."

"Okay. I'll see you as soon as I can." Naruto took a quick right and headed for the black bird house barely missing a couple of students getting lunch. He yelled back sorry and went back to the phone. "I love you."

"I love you too. Just hurry home." Sasuke muttered. He ended the call and headed into the corner café. They had up a poster with their former chef's name up asking for information. Sasuke looked at it and sighed. 'Maybe I am like Madara, I had him killed… He was killed because of my safety…' Sasuke sighed again and pulled a Sobe out of the front cooler not looking at the flavor. He set it on the counter and pulled out his wallet. "How much?"

"Buck ten." Said the small girl behind the counter. Sasuke Pulled out a five and grabbed the Sobe. He smiled at her and walked away shoving his wallet away. He rounded the corner and walked slowly to Raven street. He was surprised how much the renovation of some of the smaller buildings had improved the neighborhood. Where there was a crack house was a new modernized apartment building. He kind of missed the old neighborhood. He strolled across the street to see Tayuya sitting on the steps listening to Jugo slowly pluck out an Evanesce song that she could sing too. They stopped when he approached. Tayuya looked it him, hopped down and hugged him. "Whatever it is, it cannot be worse than my period cramps. Think about your balls getting crushed in repeatedly."

"That's not helping." Sasuke said slipping away from her. He handed the Sobe to Jugo and looked at him. "I'm showing Madara-ish traits apparently."

"Everyone picks up certain habits off of others." Jugo said trying to calm him. He placed a hand on him and looked at him. "You… are nothing like him. You will never be anything like him. You are a good person."

"Thanks. I'll be inside." Sasuke moved pass him and entered into the main hall of the group home and walked straight to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a cheese stick. He jumped up on the fake granite counter and opened it eating it slowly. As he bit down into the motzerella he couldn't help but make comparatives between him and what he called uncle. He looked at the floor wishing he felt more respectable then the dirt on it. A sudden smell of aftershave filled the room and Sasuke looked up to see Naruto walking towards him backwards yelling at Tayuya to shut up about her period. Naruto turned around as Sasuke jumped off the counter and the gripped each other like they were going to be ripped apart.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked as he patted him on the back. Sasuke nuzzled into his neck and sighed. "Sasuke…"

"Naruto… What if I end up turning out like Madara? I mean… We're so alike and Sasori noticed that I was acting like him. And I've noticed it too." Sasuke gripped him shirt tightly and began crying. "I had a guy killed because he recognized us two years ago. I had an innocent man killed."

"What…" Naruto said softly. "What do you mean, you must be mistaken."

"Karin was still a runaway and I couldn't risk them finding us either… Kisame killed him in the alley. He made sure to mug him to make it look like a random act of violence. We've kept it covered up. It was the day we put up the new rules in the basement… We didn't think anything of it… He wasn't a person to us, he was a liability and we took him out."

"You had someone murdered?" Naruto asked pulling away from him. Sasuke nodded trying to keep him as close as possible.

"Itachi heard the call go out over the police scanner, the guy reported seeing us and thinking we were all runaways. Karin was… So Kisame killed him." Sasuke broke out crying. "I feel like I did it myself. It feels horrible to think that I'm becoming Madara, I didn't feel anything for two years. I feel like a monster."

'I feel like I don't know you.' It was like a sudden disconnect from Sasuke. Naruto didn't let go though he clung tighter. 'I'll work to understand you though.' "I don't know what to say to that. I don't think it was right, I think you should have just left and not gone back. It wasn't you, it was Kisame."

"I feel so guilty."

"It'll be okay." Naruto said. "I know what you need to do though… You have to talk to the police."

"What?" Sauske pushed off of him. He gave him a look that was unmistakable. "I can't do that. Kisame's saved my back so many times, he fucking saved Itachi's life more times than I can count. He's not a bad guy."

"Incriminate one of Madara's lackeys then but give the family some type of closure! They're all guilty, maybe not of the crime, but worthy of jail. You're giving them closure and getting someone off the street. You don't know how much closure helps a family. When you don't know it's like a void and only when you think you know the truth do you feel better."

"I… I'll think about it." Sasuke said. He re-gripped onto Naruto. Naruto held his brunette and stroked his hair slowly. Sasuke's breathing became normal as he calmed down.

"Come on, let's go take a nap. I'm done with classes for the day." Naruto offered seeing as their room was still upstairs just as they had left it that morning.

"Me too." Sasuke looked up and Naruto used his palm to wipe his tears away and bring a smile to his face. Naruto let his fingers slide behind his neck and pulled them together. Their lips touched softly, a mix of Sasuke's tears and lip balm. They pulled apart and Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand leading him up the stairs slowly and to their door. He opened the door and let Sasuke go and fall on the bed. Naruto crawled in next to him and lay there starring as Sasuke closed his eyes. Tired and emotionally drained.


	11. Need for Family

**Two chapters in one week, I am on fire! :) Look for chapters to be out weekly now coming out on Sunday or Monday. Please review, I value opinions.**

* * *

"Hello?" Sasuke said muttering lightly. He had been woken up by the ringing of the phone. At first he had looked to Naruto to grab it but there was an empty spot where Naruto was and the bathroom door was open letting in a thick warm mist from the shower. Sasuke sat up much like a zombie, head and arms appearing limp and grabbed the phone from its resting spot on the table and was finally able to answer.

"Hi, is Naruto busy?" Said a much more awake voice. Sasuke took a minute and recognized it. 'Damn it, it's Gaara…'

"Yea, he's in the bathroom at the moment. Do you have a message?" Sasuke said trying to be polite. He did however wish his 'I really did want to get woken up especially by you' vibes would go through the receiver and make his brain explode into tiny little pieces. It didn't.

"Tell him the left over pizza's in the fridge in the closet. That's about it." He heard the phone shifting a bit. "Oh and tell him congrats on the job, he ran out so quick I didn't get to tell him."

"Oh… Okay. Bye." Sasuke said and pulled the phone away.

"Bye." He hung up and set the phone back down on the table as Naruto waded back into the room with a white cotton towel around his waist. Naruto crawled up on the bed and shook off some of the excess water. "Thanks for the bath, _mon renard_."

"Who was that?" Naruto said smiling. He looked at Sasuke's face and realized he was still upset over answering the phone. "Not good or…"

"Gaara for you. He says the pizza in the fridge in the closet." Sasuke brushed his hair back and looked at him. "He also said congrats on getting your job."

"Oh yea, hey guess what?" Naruto said with an uneasy laugh. He scooted closer to Sasuke and leaned on him nuzzling into the nape of his neck. "Chouji's grandparents are giving me the tip jar to help teach kids how to cook. Isn't that cool? I'll have to take you there sometime we went there for lunch… Oh yea, I'm hungry."

Naruto laughed and sat back up. Sasuke looked over at him and sighed. "Naruto, you know how I feel about him and yet every single day… he's in the conversation somewhere. I just want a day without hearing about him."

"Sasuke… You're being a jealous prude." Naruto said quickly. He looked at him as to scold Sasuke. "I am allowed to have other friends, and I am allowed to hand out with said friends."

"I just don't like him." Sasuke said being honest. He stood up out of bed and walked away scratching his head. "It's like he's in the middle of our relationship. I go to see you he's there. I don't like him."

"You're not dating him, so don't worry about it. You're dating me; just ignore him if you really don't like him that much." Naruto said laying back on the bed. "I don't like all your friends, some of your so called 'connections' are just plain dumb."

"I really hate him." Sasuke said. "Why can't you move out and we'll move back in here and lie and say it's under your dad and Itachi."

Naruto was going to rebuttal but his phone rang again. He leaned over the bed and grabbed it looking at the screen quickly.

"Hello?" Naruto answered. He heard a voice and immediately cheered up. Sasuke looked at him smiling and leaned against the far wall knowing he was talking to his dad. He got that expression on his face like a little kid telling their parents everything about anything. "Yeah, no, actually I just got out. Yep, I'll be there soon, bye."

"Who was that?" Sasuke asked as soon as Naruto headed straight over to the dresser. He opened the draw and pulled out his dark navy dress shirt. "And why is my sexy getting dressed?"

"My dad. We're going out to dinner tonight with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Do you want to come?" Naruto asked throwing the shirt over his bare shoulders as he grabbed his boxers and jeans off the floor. "It's that Indian place over on Birch."

"No, I was going to head over to Itachi's. He's in his new house finally. I was going to join him for an evening coffee and catching up." Sasuke sighed and grabbed his pants as well. He put them on and shoved his phone in his pants. He looked up at Naruto to see him pull his black tie out. "Dressing up?"

"He said to." Naruto threw it around his neck for later and kissed Sasuke on the forehead. "I'll call you when were done."

Sasuke buttoned his pants and quickly threw each hand to a side of Naruto's face and pulled him in. Sasuke kissed him softly on the lips and pulled back starring into his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you." Naruto replied softly. He leaned into Sasuke holding him tightly and squeezed him as tightly as his muscles would let him. He finally let go and pecked Sasuke on the cheek. "Bye."

Naruto opened the door and disappeared behind it as it closed. He walked over to the table, sat down on the bed and picked up his phone. He sighed as he waited for the ringing to stop. "Hi, can I come over, I don't have anything to do tonight."

"Sure, I need help painting." Said his brother in a cheery voice. He stopped and sighed. "You okay?"

"I'm just kind of pissy. I'll be over soon." Sasuke said standing up and grabbing his shirt. "Naruto's going out with his dad tonight. So I've got nothing up."

"Now, you have something to do over here. I've only got half the house painted and the outside needs painting." Sasuke opened the door, shut off the light and stepped out into the cool hallway. "We'll, in a bit then."

* * *

"Hey Jiriaya." Naruto said stepping through the door of Jiriaya's house. Even more books had been stacked up since he saw it two months ago. Many of them now were science books and books on college. He walked over to Jiriaya's got a hand on his head messing up his hair.

"Hey kiddo." Jiriaya set his coffee down on the table and hugged him. He let him go and picked his cup back up. "Your dad's in the bathroom doing something about the caveman look."

"Really?" Naruto said slightly surprised. He headed down the book stacked lined hallway and turned into the open bathroom door. He knocked twice to interrupt his father saving. "Hey dad."

"Hey Naruto." He said quickly wiping off his face.

Naruto walked over and they stared in the mirror together. "If you were a bit younger we could go as twins."

"You mean if I were a lot younger, I've got too many wrinkles and too bad of saggy eyes." Minato hugged him quickly and showed off his clothing option. It was a suit Naruto easily recognized from wearing on several occasions. "I'm surprised Jiriaya keep my old suit. I suppose he kept it for you though."

"I wore that to prom, both years." Naruto said proving his father right.

"Really?" Mianto looked at it and then examined the jacket which had a few small stains and a rip on the inside. "I don't think it's good enough for prom but… I suppose with fashion today."

"Alright you two, let's get going." Jiriaya said entering. He grabbed both and began herding them towards the front door. "We'll take my car."

"I have the corvette." Naruto said quickly.

"We'll take the corvette." Jiriaya changed his mind quickly.

* * *

The door opened and Itachi smiled down at his little brother. Itachi opened an arm and Sasuke walked into it. "Hey."

"Hey." Itachi replied back. They released and Itachi let him into the room under construction. Sasuke looked around to see the wall half painted and still needing another coat along with a couch in the middle of the room and a laptop.

"I brought coffee." Sasuke said raising a little drink carrier.

Itachi took one and rolled it around in his hands. Sasuke took his out as well and just began sipping it observing what needed to be done. Down a little hall way he could make out the tiles of a bathroom and what could possibly by a kitchen with the cabinets being assembled on the table."Good, I just ran out. Here, hand me the carrier. For future reference the garbage will not always be in the bathroom."

"So, front room robin's egg?" Sasuke asked. Itachi nodded and walked into the bathroom to simply toss the carrier somewhere beyond the door frame.

"Yeah, I want black and gold accents." Itachi smiled. "One of the hotels I checked out yesterday had it in their lobby and it was so incredible. Aside from taking picture to post, I did for color shemes too. I've got a white, purple and green thing planned for the bedroom."

"Cool." Sasuke took a couple steps listening to the floor board. "So, is it haunted?"

"Nope, but just in case had a priest go through, and a medicine man. If nothing else to bring some positive karma in." Itachi said and began chugging the coffee. He set it down next to the couch and grabbed the paint can that he had been using and refilled the paint tray. "Wait until you see the finished tea room off to the side there."

Sasuke took that as 'go look' and walked over to the French doors. He opened it and saw the small table with tea set and several sitting pads around it. The floor was already matted and Itachi had filled the room with plants. "You're really making it yours quick."

"Well, I want it to be home a good home. I'd like to have a family one day." Itachi said and pushed the roller on the wall. He did a strip until he looked over at Sasuke who was chuckling quietly to himself. "What?"

"You… a family?" Sasuke said. He stopped laughing once Itachi's face lost its smile. "Mister 'I don't talk to new people ever' is actually interested in a family?"

"I think I would make a good father one day."

"You being so over protective of Naruto… I'd agree."

* * *

"What do you think of this place?" Tsunade adjusted her seat into the table. She had arranged the most secluded place she could, and since the owner of the restaurant had a daughter in her program, they received the Mayor's room, usually reserved for political meetings. She liked the colonial British and natural Indian influences around her.

"Too pricy for me." Jiriaya said. He looked at his own empty placemat and grumbled. "I feel my wallet draining…"

"Too clean for me." Minato said bringing a different view to the table. "I'm used to holes in the wall. They make me feel more comfortable."

"Naruto, do you remember coming here for your twelfth birthday? Tsunade and I brought you." Shizune asked quietly. "You ate five different things if I remember right."

"A little, it was six years ago. I think I have cake." Naruto thought about it for a minute for the picture of a giant cupcake appeared in his head. "They had those giant yogurt filled cupcakes? I ate that entire thing."

"You did, three whole ones." Tsunade lifted her glass of wine to her lips and drank it slowly enjoying the light music. "We can get one for desert, but you're sharing this time."

"Our last guest is late." Jiraiya commented on the empty seat next to him.

"Not that much, I hope." Kakashi said stepping into the room.

"Kakashi! Long time no see." Minato turned joyus and stood up to hug him. Kakashi more than happily accepted it and the too muttered to each other before sitting down.

"It's like looking at a ghost and a clone of Naruto at the same time." Kakashi noted looking at the two sitting next to each other. Both smiled. "Where have you been?"

"Mexico, in bars, I've been to Carnival though, a couple times." He quickly turned to Naruto. "I'll have to take you. It's amazing, the colors, and costumes. It'd be a good bonding time too, we can get masks and jump in the parade."

"Can I go, too?" Tsunade asked. Shizune nudged her sharply with one of her elbows. "What, I've never been."

"You can't just ask people for trips." Shizune hissed quietly. "It's rude and they want it to be a family thing."

"I just did." Tsunade argued and smiled causing Shizune to look away crossing her arms. Tsunade coughed to get attention from everyone. "So, more importantly, what are you doing to regain the trust of your son. That's why we're all here. We want to reintroduce you to society but with your current track record… How can we entrust Naruto to you. You didn't even lift a finger to raise him, the responsibility shifted to me, Jiriaya and Kakashi."

"Well, I got myself declared officially alive earlier today… I'll have to find something but the only things I'm good at anymore are drinks and genetics. It leaves me pretty limited." Minato said and sighed. "I can ask for a job at the college… I was their dean once."

"Sasori will probably need you soon. Right now there are only two genetics teachers." – N

"I hope. I'd like to buy a house and stop bumming off you and Jiraiya." "I'm pretty good at being a bouncer, I had the bar I was working at call up and give me a reference. Some studio club called me today… so I do have an interview, just no mailing address yet."

"You can come and bum off me." Tsunade offered, "Of course you'll have chores."

"Me too until you can get on your feet." Kakashi said. "You'll have to get over all my dogs though. They sleep in the guest room on the bed… I can't get them off it…"

"Thanks guys." Minato said with a little smile. "I'm hoping to get an apartment though if I get that job."

"You can go into the military. They'll accept you as long as you're not too fat." Naruto said. Minato looked at him with one eye cocked. "It's a guaranteed job with benefits and you'll be doing something positive."

Minato hit him on the head quickly with his spoon. Naruto grabbed his head and looked at him for an explanation. Minato smiled warmly. "Stop being your mother."


	12. Mail

"What is this place?" Hidan asked looking up in the night. He sniffed it and growled. The building they were standing by would better be described as an abandoned warehouse. A lot of the windows were broken into and there were gang tags everywhere over it. On the ground were old police tape, torn and strewen everywhere. Broken bottles lined the sidewalks around it with the occasional needle. "It looks like shit."

"Something that means a lot to a couple of certain some ones. More importantly, it's my property, something that wasn't bequeathed to Sasuke." Madara said and opened the door to see several young thugs sitting around a fire. They looked up and began to head their way. "Now, I assume you all can guess why you are here?"

"We're moving in?" Hidan asked. He and Kakuzu pulled guns. They shot quickly and watched as the bodies dropped, the outlines illuminated by the small fire.

"Yes." Madara said. He took a few steps inside and looked around. There was some plastic sheeting hanging from a wall. He pulled it down and tossed it over the bodies. "I've decided to revamp our mission. No longer is it 'to make me immortal' but now it is 'to make me immortal and more powerful than everyone else.' As you all know, I refuse to test anything on myself, so, I have maybe five years or so left, I am that old. Nagato and Konan will resume their laboratory work here. I want you two to focus on both the pain killer and the accelerant. If we can beat Minato out…"

"Minato?" Nagato asked. He sighed and rubbed his fingers on his forehead."He was drunk and disoriented when I met him, mind you he threw, _threw_, Orochimaru across the length of a football field. It'd be better to follow him around and get a blood sample when he passes out from one too many; if he's sober and sleeping I don't even think we could. There's no way we can make forty years of progress by ourselves and especially not without a sample. That just lowers it down too years and years of analysis."

"As much as I hate recounting that story, Nagato has a point. There's no way we can beat him in our current state." Orochimaru stepped foreword and watched as Hidan and Kakuzu dragged the four bodies over to an unlit furnace. Hidian lit a match and tossed one of the thugs in. None of the others even looked that way, they instead focused on the conversation. "The best point of action would be to lure him here or black mail him for his sample."

"Why can't we." Kakuzu asked from across the room.

"The only thing he has… the only thing… Is his son." Nagato said slowly.

"Let's grab whoever that is then, duh." Hidan stated as he poured a bottle of paint thinner on the man and tossed in his liter. He slammed the cover shut and walked away from the fumes.

"It's Uzumaki." Nagato replied and watched as Hidan's face didn't change.

"Um…" Hidan shrugged and looked back to his partner was busy cutting up limbs like they were logs. He hear a femur break and turned back shaking his head.

"That's Sasuke's boyfriend, Hidan." Madara slapped him quickly on the back of the head and tossed him back towards the group. "We can lure Naruto here, however. He's fairly simple minded. I don't think Itachi would back Sasuke up if he came, and Minato wouldn't risk harm to him."

"So… you gonna explain this place, or what?" Konan asked walking in late with one hand supporting her growing stomach and the other with a huge bag of fast food.

"This place is the reason Itachi and Sasuke's parents had to die." Madara said and tried to take a dramatic pose.

"Right, well, I have to get out of here, fumes aren't good for me or the baby." Konan handed Nagato the bag of food, the kissed quickly and she began walking out. "This place needs to be swept, decontaminated and redecorated in one week!"

They watched as she walked out. Hidan scoffed. "Dude, your wife's a fuckin' bitch when she pregnant."

"Well, she is seven months along. She can't work in a contaminated area." Madara said standing up for her. "Also, she's the one with a doctorate who didn't take off so we're going to put up with her mood swings."

"And she brought food." Nagato said and started to pass it out amongst them.

* * *

Deirdara was in the hallway of the large mansion sitting on some antique table next to a vase and a gold elephant statue when he saw the door open. Sasuke walked in, shifted through his mail and looked up at Deidara who was muttering. Deidara jumped down and tried to explain. "Oh, hey… listen, so I accidentally put a few bullet holes…"

"Is Kisame here?" Sasuke asked quickly. He fiddled through the mail and pulled out a stack and tossed them in the waste basket. He took the rest and tossed it in the office landing it on the desk. He looked back at Deidara.

The blonde scratched his head and pointed a finger to the back yard. "Yeah, he's in the pool, or that's the last time I knew he was somewhere."

Sasuke walked towards the large French doors and stepped out to see Kisame in a floatie with a beer and a hot dog. "Hey, Sasuke. You need more floaties."

"You have a class to teach in three hours." Sasuke said and motioned for him to come out. Kisame shoved the hot dog down his throat and jumped down holding his beer above the water. He climbed out and looked at him. "I also need to talk to you. Dry off and meet me in my office."

"Right." Kisame said and watched Sasuke walked away into the house. Kisame shook his head and proceeded to chug his beer down first before grabbing his towel.

Inside Sasuke walked into his office and over to the desk. The desk was one of the things he had kept of Madara's, however the chair was new and simple, along with the walls which Naruto had elected to make him paint light blue. Naruto said it would keep him calm in the room, Sasuke agreed, but more or less for the reason that he thought of Naruto when he saw the color. He stared at the silver frame and looked at him and Naruto kissing in it. He sighed and picked up his mail. Most of it was from overseas but one had caught his eye. It was in a red envelope with a bogus return address he recognized. 'Someone's mailing me as Mickey Mouse…'

Sasuke opened his draw and used his letter opener on it. He pulled out another envelope with Itachi's name on it and a sticky note. '_Hello Sasuke, I didn't have Itachi's new address. Would you give him this? It's that tea he wanted from Thailand. Thanks –O' _Sasuke sighed and slipped it in his back pocket.

"So, you took it over as your own." Kisame said walking in slowly. He looked around and saw a very familiar sight. "Why'd you keep the bear?"

"There's something about it… It just screams I'm going to eat you. Plus Naruto wanted to decorate it and put it out front for Christmas." Sasuke pointed a finger to one of the seats in front of the desk and Kisame took a seat nervously. "Anyway, remember two years ago, you killed a chef of a restaurant by Black Bird?"

"Yeah, poor kid. He didn't stand a chance." Kisame said and watched and Sasuke's facial expression saddened. "What about him."

"I told Naruto… I need ideas about what to do. Ever since Sasori mentioned how much I'm like Madara, it's like a constant guilt trip. His death has been weighing heavily on me, not to mention the stress that Naruto put on me because of it. Firstly, I don't want to turn you in. Not only are you a teacher, you're a friend and you saved my ass several times before. Secondly, Naruto recommended blaming it on one of Madara's men, but it's a little too late to be placing the blame on one of them. Ideas?"

"The only one who would take credit, doesn't mug his victims. He'll get in the station, be shown a photo and go 'I didn't do this, but if you bring me your unsolved murder files…' He's very proud of his work." Kisame scratched the back on his neck and thought for a minute as Sasuke opened a letter and began reading it. "Maybe we should bring Deidara in on this? He'd have some ideas."

"Good idea." Sasuke said looking up and grabbing his phone. He texted quickly before going to the letter.

"Are you texting him?" Kisame asked. Sasuke nodded. "You know, he's probably down the hall."

"It's a mansion; I have no clue where he went to. It's fifteen minutes to the lower cellar from here too and I'm not searching this place for him." Sasuke kept reading the letter and quickly pulled out a key from his pocket. He replaced the key and opened more mail. He unlocked the bottom draw, dropped it in and locked it back up. "He'll be here in a second. He also says the zucchini went bad."

"Damn it I was going to make Zuchini bread with that." Kisame said and sighed. "I was going to make it and send it with Nagato too, his birthday just passed. Now he's a thirty-something like the rest of us!"

"We should be having a meeting whenever he gets back to me, I'd go by a new one and make it soon." Sasuke said and put away his phone as Deidara waltzed in taking off bites of a small cucumber. "Hey Deidara."

"Hey guys, what's this about?" Deidara asked sitting down. Sasuke sighed and looked at him thinking of how to put it.

"Kisame killed someone two years ago, we can't pin it on anyone. You're a lawyer, what would make me feel better about the deed?" Sasuke asked. Deidara looked at him funny. "What?"

"So, you just want to feel better?"

"Yes." Sasuke said shortly. "However, I want it to be a good gesture, something positive."

"Um… well, you're kind of a celebrity, local anyway, say you found out about it and would like to give the family something, like a couple thousand. That's what they do." Deidara said taking another bite. He chewed it and watched as Sasuke mulled it over while sitting back.

"I can do that." He said and nodded. "That sounds good because they lost his wages when we killed him."

"Oh, and if you do a check, you can make the little purpose line say something like 'Hope' or some shit." Kisame said getting excited. He looked around at the blank faces he was receiving.

"That's kind of corny, Kisame." Deidara said quickly and took another bite.

"You're making your own fucking dinner tonight."

"But I can't cook!" Deidara pleaded and watched as Kisame stood up and stuck his tongue out.

"Not my problem." Kisame shut the door behind him. Deidara looked up at Sasuke. "Will you cook for me? I tried cooking in New York and set an apartment on fire."

"Who's apartment."

"I'd rather not say."

"I can't cook either." Sasuke admitted and both sighed and sat back. "I have to get going."

* * *

Sasuke got an address online, along with a little bit of information. The guy was living with his mother and grandmother, he had one sister who had a child. They lived in a three bedroom apartment on the edge of town. Sasuke knocked on the door unsure of what to expect. The back door opened leaving a sheet of glass between him and a little girl. "Hi."

"Hi there, is you mom or grandma home?" Sasuke asked bending down. She nodded. "Can one of them come to the door?"

She ran away back into the apartment and a woman looking a little older then Jugo appeared in full apron and dish washing gloves. "Can I help you sir?"

"Hi, you don't know me, but I'd like to talk to you about your brother." Sasuke said quickly. They girl looked at him for a minute and opened the door. Sasuke followed her inside and pointed to a seat on the couch. "I wanted to know about him being alive. What did he like?"

"He was studying to be a botanist. He really liked flowers. He'd bring them to me every day after he got off work at the diner." She said taking a seat on the floor stripping off her gloves. She set them down and hit the floor for her daughter to come over to her. "She was a baby, so she'd try to eat them most of the time."

"Flowers taste bad." The little girl said and turned into her mother.

"Can I ask why you're inquiring about him? It's random being two years later."

"I want to help, I lost both my parents, I watched my mother die in my big brother's arms. Death is hard." Sasuke said quietly. "What's your daughter's name?"

"Kim." The mother said quietly.

Sasuke pulled out a piece of paper and wrote on it quickly. He handed it to her. "That should help some when Kim graduates high school."

Sasuke stood up and began walking out as he heard the mother begin to gasp. He looked back in once, smiled and walked away. As he passed by the window he saw the mother and her mother crowded around the check. He smiled and began to text Naruto.


	13. The Warehouse

"I'm surprised you haven't gone home yet." Kisame said watching Sasuke work on his homework in the office of the mansion. Sasuke shrugged. He had tossed his shirt away, grabbed a bottle of water and went through four cigarettes in the past five hours. Sasuke had one in his mouth he was just lighting. "You're smoking more then usual."

"I have to get it all in when Naruto's not around. My lungs repair themselves quickly, I'll be an old man when I die." Sasuke mention and pulled up a note pad to jot a few lines from the book down. "I understand most of your class the best, isn't that weird?"

"No, sounds normal seeing as you snuck into Sasori's classes and took some over summer. Well, I've got dinner done if you want a plate. I made lemon chicken." He said and closed the door to the office and ditched Sasuke in his hazy room working all alone. Sasuke blew out a large puff and set it on the ash tray. He looked at his watch and relaxed back in his chair. 'Nagato should have called me over twenty minutes ago.'

A loud knock hit his door. Sasuke yelled and the door opened to Deidara. He popped his head in and coughed through the smoke to make out Sasuke's image at the desk. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but Konan just showed up. She's awfully big."

"She is pregnant." Sasuke said and extinguished the cigarette and left the room closing the door behind him to keep it smoke filled. He walked over to the living room where Kisame was handing her a plate of chicken with a side of mash potatoes and peas. "The kid's doubled in size since you were here last."

"Babies… They grow fast." Konan said and pulled a letter out of her purse. "Here's the time and place. I've got bounds of good news, and by bounds, it's in the wrong direction. Madara has gotten the brilliant idea to use the old warehouse where your father made that discovery. He plans on kidnapping Naruto to lure Minato there."

"Damn him." Sasuke said sitting down in a large leather chair. Deidara was about to protest that it was his spot but Sasuke didn't seem like he was in the mood. Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair. "He's at work right now, he'll be safe. He keeps texting me pictures of the pizzas."

"Does he work at a pizza place, 'cause I like pizza." Deidara said and Sasuke nodded. "You're not going to tell me where…"

"You won't get free pizza." Sasuke said quickly. "Konan, do you have any more info on the plan to catch Naruto?"

"No. Madara isn't releasing any info." She said. "And not to me inparticular, something about me being pregnant makes me mentally weak or something. I call it hormonal. Anyway the two goons are on it again, they're being particularly argry thought because they know they can't kill him. Minato maybe a drunk but he's not stupid, not being with 9 for so long."

"No, not with that… But they will become more risky in their actions. Text me if anything else comes up." Sasuke nodded to her and got up heading back to the office. He stepped inside and inhaled the still smoke that he had filled the air with. His phone went off. He picked it up to see a little message icon. He opened it. '_Look at this one!' _The picture was on Naruto and a little boy holding up a pizza with a clown made out of toppings. Both were smiling happily. "That's cute."

Sasuke sat down in his chair and glared at the picture with a deep smile on his ace. He sighed and began flipping through the other messages getting a warmer feeling with each.

"Okay, you ready Naruto? It's twelve moms and fourteen kids." Mr. Akimichi said as he looked up at the clock. Naruto gave him a big thumb up in his gloves, hat and apron that said 'Hi-Five me I'm awesome.' The old man smiled and sat down on a stool behind the register. The door opened and the large group filed in and found seats first. The mother's sat down with their kids and discussed what they wanted. A little girl escaped and headed towards Naruto and looked at him. "Are you the pizza man?"

"Yep, my name's Naruto." Naruto said bending over to talk to her. "What's your name?"

"I'm Shelly. I'm a princess." She said. Naruto watched as she proved her princess quality by spinning and stopping in a cute little pose. "One day, I'm going to live in a castle."

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I do live in a castle." She gasped covering her mouth with her hands. "It's huge, it has balconey's and a pool. I don't sleep there but we have huge cook outs there."

"Really? Does it have a dragon?" She asked biting her lip. "I'm scared of dragons."

"It doesn't have any dragons, I went through and gave them all eviction notices! They left!" The girl smiled as her mother came over hearing the conversation. He stood up and greated her. "What can I make for you and your daughter?"

"Tell him what you want on your pizza, Shelly." She urged and the girl turned and twisted until she muttered "I want a dragon."

"A dragon, made of pepperoni?" Naruto asked. She nodded. Naruto thought for a minute. "I can do that, are you going to help?"

"Yep. I'll eat it when you're done. I have blocks to play with." She said and bolted to the other side of the room. Naruto smiled and looked up at the mother. "I might be able to make that if you don't mind."

"Really?" She said. Naruto nodded and pulled some pre-kneaded dough off the counter. "How?"

"Cheese and pepperoni. Just wait until it comes out of the oven. I promise she'll love it." Naruto said pulling out some motzerilla cheese. The mother, assured, went back to her seat and watched as Naruto work furiously covering it in white cheese. He grabbed pepperoni and layered it into somewhat of a bubbly dragon shape and covered parts of the pepperoni in the cheese giving it a better shape. He smiled at his work and put it in the over as a mother and her two son walked up. They looked at him and hugged to their mom. "So, are you two going to help me make a pizza?"

"Oh, pizza?" One let go and walked over next to Naruto. He looked up happily. "I want to put on the cheese."

"I want to put on the cheese." The other one said letting go of his mother.

"I'm sure he'll let both of you put cheese on it." She said petting their heads. She reached out a hand then realized Naruto was gloved. "Oh, I'm Bethany, this is Trent and Mike. You must be the new help."

"Yes, I'm Naruto. So, is a cheese pizza fine for you all?" He asked and she nodded pulling out her phone. She flipped through pictures and showed him what they made at home. "Tried it at home?"

"They both want to add cheese, so it gets messy…" She said.

Naruto grabbed dough and pounded it out into two rectangles. "Okay, boys, this is how the cheese is going to work. After I put on sasue, I want you two to cover your side in cheese, however, if there's any not on the pizza and on the counter, you lose."

Both boys gasped and watched as Naruto poured sasuce on. He gave a bag of cheese to each boy and let them begin tossing it on, however they both tried not to lose and ended up with huge piles on cheese in the center of the pizzas. "Oh, it was a tie!"

"A tie!" One of the boys shouted and tagged the other one. Naruto flattened out the cheese and stuck it in the oven. The woman began going through her purse again and wrote it down. "That's a really good idea. Do you do babysitting?"

"I can, just not during the day, I'm in college down the street." Naruto said and thought for a second. "What did you need?"

"Well, tomorrow my husband was going to take me to the theater but our usual sitter canceled because she's down with the flu. I'd really hate to miss this show." She said with a pleading look on her face.

"Sure, just write your info down and I'll call you later tonight. You can give it to Mr. Akimichi for the time being." She thanked him and walked over to the counter talking to the owner. While Naruto moved on to a little girl who wouldn't look at him the woman put a five in the tip jar along with her number.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Gaara opened the door and shoved Minato up the first stair to the pizza parlor. Minato was kind of reluctant to visit his son at work but Gaara insisted. As they entered with Shikamaru and Temari in tow the two whispered about the man with them. When The reached the top they had to dodge little kids running around and the little kids getting scooped up and put back at the tables. They walked over to a neglected table and Temari went to talk to Mr. Akimichi. They watched Naruto help a little girl place pepperoni on her pizza until Temari came back to the table. "He says we're always welcome here, but the kids should go through first simply because he hate to hear them scream."

"Has Naruto noticed yet?" Minato asked and everyone shook their heads. "It looks like he's having fun."

"It's because they're closer to his maturity level." Shikamaru spouted off quickly. He quickly lurched grabbed his leg. Temari smiled and clicked her heel back to the floor. Minato saw this and smiled held back his laughter at them. "She stabbed me with her heel and you're just sitting there smiling."

"I know better than to misbehave in public. I was very well trained by my late wife." Minato said quickly. "So, you're Gaara's sister, and you're a general friend?"

"Something like that." Temari said and caught Naruto's attention and waved him over. Naruto made sure everything was taken care of for the second and walked over. "Looks like you're doing well with the kids."

"Most of them like the face that I can admit that I live in a castle." Naruto smiled and looked at their confused faces. "Sasuke's mansion." Three of them nodded. His father just stared at him. "Sasuke inherited a twenty room mansion."

"Wow…" Minato said. "I think I robbed one once."

"What?" Temari said quickly and Shikamaru grabbed her. "Robbery?"

"It was in Mexico, I was drunk. It happens." Minato said dismissing it quickly. Temari crossed her arms and shook Shikmaru off. Minato smiled at Naruto. "Well, you finish up the kid's food and then deal with us. You've got a job now."

"Okay, I'll be back over in a bit." Naruto said and walked back over to the ovens to check everything out. Gaara leaned over to Minato and whispered in his ear. They looked at Temari and nodded. Minato looked at her. "He said you stab me with a heel if I told any good stories…"

"I kind of work in the mayor's office, I think it'd be good not to mention illegal acts around me." Temari said quickly establishing a boundary. Minato nodded and went back to watching Naruto work. He pulled out his wallet and handed Gaara a twenty. "What's that for."

"Tip jar, right?" Gaara said guessing. Minato nodded and he got up and slipped over there without notice and dropped it in. He came back and sat down as if nothing had happened. "Naruto doesn't earn a wage remember. He only gets the tip jar."

"Oh right." Temari said. "Too bad he wasn't a girl, we could get him in at the mayor's office. He likes to stare."

"I'd punch him in the face, let him try to explain that to the city council, but that's just me." Minato said. Shikamaru muttered I wish and got everyone's attention. "What?"

"He makes me where my hair down…" Shikamaru looked out the window and sighed. "He is a good mayor, he's just in a crappy marriage and likes to let everyone know how much he hates his wife. It's like he doesn't know what a divorce is."

"It'd look bad." Temari said quietly and watched as Naruto came back over. "I want pineapple."

"I'll get you a whole one." Naruto turned around to address the large group of mom and kids as they were leaving. "Come back next week, I'll look up mac and cheese pizza for you guys."

Some little kids cheered as they left. After a minute the noise of the place turned quiet and Mr. Akimichi walked over. "How'd you enjoy the kids? It seemed like they enjoyed you a lot. Especially that dragon pizza, that was clever."

"Thanks. I like it, it's cooking experience and I get to make fun pizzas. It's like playing with food." He smiled and pulled out a little note pad and a pen. "So, Temari wants pineapple. What's for the rest of you?"

"Pepperoni." Shikamaru said and looked at Gaara and Minato, both nodded in agreement. "You can probably just make us one pizza. I don't want to carry home leftovers."

Naruto's phone went off and he quickly apologized to Mr. Akimichi for leaving it on and went to go make the pizzas. Naruto flung them together as fast as possible and tossed them in the oven. He quickly took out his phone and checked, it was a text from Sasuke simply saying 'BB meet, 2mor 7pm, Sasori's room' and Naruto saw that it was addressed to everyone. He shoved it away and began cleaning up his work station.


	14. We Didn't Need To Know That

"Why did you come to the library to work on your art assignment?" Lee pestered raising his giant eyebrows up. He looked over Naruto's should and watched carefully as he sketched. He walked to Naruto's other shoulder and observed it from a different angle. "Why wouldn't you go to the art hall? They have better supplies."

"Because I thought it was going to be quieter here." Naruto said dropping his drawing pad to the table. He set the pencil down and stared at it. The center looked off and he couldn't help but feel he had messed up on the veins. Naruto erased what he had of his leaf sketch and started over. He slowly drew the center and then began on the thicker veins.

"What are you drawing?" Lee asked as he sat down next to Naruto to watch him work. Naruto didn't answer for a minute and Lee followed up with more looking over the shoulder.

"Lee… I really need peace and quiet." Naruto snapped quickly. Lee bowed his head and sat back in his chair.

"Sorry." He said and sighed. "You know it's just been really hard to talk to people because they're always so busy."

"Lee, you're always too noisy…" Tenten argued. "Maybe if you were less intrusive it would be easier for you to talk to people. When you meet someone they don't want to know your life goals.

"Poor Naruto, having to listen to you two goons." A smile crossed her face as Ino interjected. Tenten and Lee shut their mouths, proving she was right with a little bit of resentment. Ino went back to her biology work and nudged Karin. "Look at that."

"Is that a… Penile Cancer? Oh God that's gross, as if dick's were already mutant looking." Karin scoffed quickly. She smiled and looked over at Ino whispering. "At least it doesn't look like old man balls, Suigetsu hair is all white, _all_ of it."

"I'll just finish in my dorm." Naruto said quickly and got up with his stuff. He walked away from the table trying to get the idea of old man junk and Suigetsu having it out of his head. Lee grabbed his things and moved across the room with Tenten to their own table.

"… Bye." Ino said and she and Karin both started giggling.

* * *

Naruto set his bag down next to his dorm room door and fumbled with his keys. It wasn't that he was clumsy, it was that he was a janitor in the making with keys to Black Bird, the mansion and several people's houses just in case. He found the right one, which he had marked with a large 'D' on the handle and shoved it in the lock. He turned it and opened the door picking up his bag. "Hey Ga…." A shushing noise cut him off as he entered. He looked over to see Gaara asleep on his bed with a ragged stained teddy bear under his arm. Temari was sitting on Naruto's bed taking cute pictures of him. She waved him over and showed him the pictures. They smiled and giggled as Naruto sat down. His bed creaked and Temari silently panicked. Naruto quickly adjusted and held still. He pulled his drawing pad out and started working on the leaf again. "Sorry."

"Shh…" She whispered and held the camera back up to get another picture of her baby brother. Gaara muttered something in his sleep and rolled over.

"No… mine." Gaara suddenly rolled over again and death gripped his teddy. He nuzzled against the pillow until he saw a flash through his eye lids. Temari shoved her camera away before Gaara looked up and saw his sister. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Hey Temari."

He heard two 'hi's back and suddenly saw Naruto in the room. Gaara quickly tossed the bear under his bed. "If you tell anyone I sleep with a Mr. Sandy I'll kill you."

"Be nice, Naruto won't tell." Temari said waving the notion off. "You shouldn't threaten people for just telling stuff anyway."

"I don't think anyone would care." Naruto looked up from his sketch and smiled. "You think you're the only one who brought something embarrassing. Dude down the hall has a complete Where's Waldo costume."

"What are you drawing?" Gaara asked, his tone somewhat accusingly. He stared for a minute before Naruto smiled again, even bigger.

"Gaara with his teddy." Naruto mocked quickly. Before he could completely focus Gaara was trying to grab the note book. Naruto kept him at bay with one foot and showed it to him revealing it was not actually an image of him. "I'm kidding; I'm trying to finish up this shading assignment."

"That's due tomorrow, isn't it?" Gaara said and grabbed his back pack to pull out his sketch book. He flipped open to the first page and stared at it. He turned it around showing Naruto the outline of a sandcastle."Crap."

"You're not doing your homework in a timely manner? I'll tell uncle Sasori! When you were adopted you promised all A's until you graduate college!" Temari pointed her well manicured finger angrily at him. Gaara set the sketch down on his lap and almost began pouting. "Okay, stop being pathetic."

Gaara shoved the note pad away and put his backpack on."Let's go get coffee."

"Coffee, at nine at night?" Temari shook her head and stood up. "You just woke up."

"He's a constant drinker." Naruto assured her.

"You want to come to Naruto?" Gaara asked. He stood in front of him smiling and lifted his game boy out of his pocket.

"No, I've got to finish this up and call Sasuke back." Naruto sighed and started to shade around the edge. "We can gameboy when you get back though."

"Okay, later." He said mildly disappointed. Temari followed him out closing the door.

* * *

"And where are you off to?" Kisame said. He and Deidara looked up from their game of rummy. Sasuke put his phone into back pocket and smiled brushing his hair out from his shower. "You Itachi impersonator, you."

"To see Naruto, he's finally all done for the day." Sasuke said and let his hair fall wherever it pleases. He scratched his newly shaven face and put on a fresh white tank top. "This is why I take morning classes."

"Remember that packet is due on Tuesday!" Kisame said giving him a thumbs up.

"Whatever." Sasuke stuck out his tongue and walked out the front door shutting it with a loud click behind him. His phone vibrated in his back pocket and he pulled it out answering it with a kissing noise.

"Hey honey." He said sweetly as he opened the door and sat down in his corvette. He leaned forward chewing lightly on his finger.

"Hey." Naruto said back. "What's up?"

"I'm just leaving the mansion; you know how I don't shower in public." He said and moved fully into his car and shut the door. "What are you working on?"

"It's a shading assignment for class." Naruto said and went quite for a while. He suddenly sighed. "Ta-da, just finished."

"Cool, because I'm on my way to bug you! I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay, I'll be picking up our mess." Naruto giggled and Sasuke could hear the phone shift. "Bye Sasuke."

* * *

Sasuke closed Naurto's dorm room and slid over to the bed. He sat down and looked at the drawing Naruto was showing up. "That's a really cool leaf."

"Well she told us to take inspiration from around us, and when I was thinking a leaf blew into my hair." He said and laughed. Naruto closed the note book and put it away in his bag.

"You're a dork." Sasuke said and wrapped his arms around Naruto. He nuzzled up to his neck and kissed it gently. "So, we have a meeting tomorrow night. Konan dropped by and told us. Apparently they don't want to talk to a pregnant woman."

"I'm babysitting tomorrow night." Naruto pointed out and placed a hand on Sauske's head stroking the long locks slowly. He realized what the words meant and jolted. "I'll be gone from five until eleven."

"For who?" Sasuke asked quickly. "I'll need to run a background check."

"One of the ladies who came to my job tonight." Naruto said happily. "She was so please with how I handled her kids yesterday. Don't worry about the background check. I doubt Madara would take an interest in me. I'm all dull and mundane."

"And how did that go? Your job, I mean." Sasuke said and laid his head back on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto went back to petting his hair.

"I made a dragon out of pepperoni." Naruto whispered like it was the most astounding thing ever. "The fire was made of a different cheese."

"You're a dork." Sasuke said and looked up at him. He stared at the light pink lips and pulled them towards him. Sasuke caught Naruto's bottom lip and sucked on it. He let it go and pulled Naruto down on top of him and shoved his tongue in his mouth. He held Naruto's head there until he felt him struggle against him. Sasuke let go of his head and watched Naruto pull away smiling.

"Gaara's coming back soon. Is Suigetsu in your room?" Sasuke smiled and shrugged. They rolled off the bed and opened the door. They went into the hall and shut the door behind them, with giant guilty smiles. They ran hand in hand down the hall and up stairs to the second story of rooms. Sasuke grabbed his key and unlocked the door reading 'Uchiha-Hoshigaki.' He opened it and the burst in. Sasuke turned falling back on his bed as Naruto shut the door and climbed on top of him.

"Umm… Right! Later!" Suigetsu said climbing off his bed with Karin's iPod. He opened the door and turned around. "Give me some freaking warning next time."

The door shut and they both started laughing like they were crazed. Naruto grabbed the bottom of Sasuke's shirt and ripped it off him over his head. Naruto put his finger on Sasuke's shoulder and slowly traced down the tanned body and over a nipple. He grabbed his waist and kissed him firmly on the lips before pulling back and smiling. "I love you."

"I love you too baby." Sasuke raised a hand and touched his warm face. Naruto rubbed into it like a little fox. Naruto lowered his head down and slowly planted another kiss.

He then sat back up and stared at Sasuke. "We never go out anymore, let's go do something fun… Like right now."

"I thought we were going to." Sasuke said leaning up on both elbows. He saw Naruto's face grimace slightly and tilted his head. "How about Sunday morning? I'd hate to say it's my soonest opening… You know college is going to keep us a lot busier than normal Naruto. I have class at seven in the morning until eleven, and you don't have class until two, would you like to go on a lunch date?"

"That'd be nice I'd like to go on a date _date. _We haven't been out in a month and I was kind of hoping I could drag you to the theater… to see that new comedy…" Naruto pouted a bit and Sasuke smiled. "That means I win, right?"

"Yes, _mon renard,_ you win." Sasuke leaned forward more and caught Naruto by his lips.


	15. The Art Project

The pencil was entertaining, he didn't know what it was about the little thing but it enthralled him. Something about the perfect circle shape, pointy tip and ability to draw kept Sasuke from truly pay attention. He'd sketch a little bird on the edge of his notes and chew on the tip. He write down a note and draw another bird. He noticed and looked at his page, there was a tree's worth of birds scattered everywhere. He sighed and looked up at Jirayia who was finishing up a rant about Nathanial Hawthorne. "And that's why the Scarlet Letter needs to be taught in college as well as High School. Now, open your short stories book to page 500 and read the play that was loosely based off this work. I was a three page explanation of what's going on, what they writer may be conveying and your personal thoughts on it."

Sasuke grabbed the book and opened it along with Shino, Neji, Gaara and the three other men in the class. Sasuke hated the idea that he would have to endure time in a small classroom with the guy who tried to have him ostracized in school, the most annoying grammar Nazi of all time and the guy who he was sure was trying to steal his boyfriend. What was worst was Jiraiya had the desks in a circle and they could all see each other. Sasuke did his best to keep his head down at all times and not look up unless directly at Jiraiya.

Sasuke found page five hundred and began to read the little play based off the Scarlett Letter. It was about a woman who had gotten a bruise from a man she slept with and has to go through the day with it. Over all, Sasuke didn't have any complaints about it, there were plenty of parallels and he thought that the guy who wrote it did a good job of updating the story. He took out his paper at the same time as Shino and began writing.

Soon after everyone was writing. Jiraiya looked up from his desk at the head of the circle and smiled. "So, what were some of the best parts of the story that linked to Hawthorne's work?"

"Every one in the town was wearing some type of cross or was heavily religious giving the town an oppressive atmosphere." Neji stated quickly. He looked up for a minute and put his hands together. "This really is the most important thing to the story I believe. Without a oppressive atmosphere there is no story, no one would care about this woman in New York or San Fransico, but in a small town with heavy religious ideals it can foster this affect."

"Good Neji. What else about the atmosphere is important? No one else would care if what?" Jiariya asked and everyone took a minute.

"It sounds like if everyone minded their own damn business she might tell them she hit the bed post and not suspect that she's being abused." Sasuke said blatantly. He kept writing and flipped over the page he was on. "People in small groups have habits of getting into other peoples business, where as, as Neji said, you wouldn't find this in New York. There are too many people to worry about one with a bruise when you probably see a couple everyday."

"Good… Don't swear. Now, we have the specifics of the atmosphere, what else would foster this?" Jiraiya asked walking around his desk and sitting on it. "What would cause people to outcast her?"

"She slept with the mayor's son and has no proof. Also, they're both in High School so it's looked down upon." One of the student's Sasuke didn't bother with said. Jiariya nodded.

"Sasuke can probably give you a better view from her viewpoint, I know he had a hard time in high school with something similar." Gaara said quickly. Sasuke looked up and gave him a sharp look as if he was trying to stab him with his glare. "I know you had an entire group who hated you then."

"Good, and then when we get there you can give us insight into Bambi." He said smugly.

"Boys, I know you two hate each other, but we are in class. Behave for four hours every Saturday, it's all I ask." Jiariya said quickly. He looked at the both of them who simply went back to their papers. "If anyone should be worthy of insult, it's whomever got the brilliant idea to let Meyer's publish. It's set back American Literature a century. Worse off there's a chick pregnant in a book written for ten year olds."

The boy all giggled a bit. Jiraiya smiled. "One of my creative writing students, a senior, did her thesis on a comparison of Twilight to the Lord of the Rings. I don't know how she did it, but it was the most hilarious, accurate and well written paper I've ever received. Do you know why she claimed Twilight was more popular then Lord of the Rings? The books from Tolkien were long, more complex and more intricate then Twilight. Plus there was no fairy and a shirtless boy."

The class laughed again. "Never write a book like Twilight, write like you are a professional. Respect from peers is more rewarding then old grannies fawning over an actor. You do have to respect it for the money it has made, and the popularity it has gained, however… I'm a Harry Potter fan. I miss Snape."

The alarm on his desk went off. He grabbed it and shut it off. "Class is over, we all survived. I feel like we just went through a level on Left for Dead." Jiraiya set it for when the next class would start and looked around. "Papers are due next Saturday, but if you want to finish them up in the next ten minutes, I don't think any of you would mind having one less thing to remember."

There was a knock at the door. Jiraiya looked up and waved to whomever it was into the class room. There were some shoes steps then Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Naruto in a royal blue dress shirt and black pants. "Hi."

"Hey, my dad absconded with your old corvette… And I learned the meaning of absconded today." Naruto smiled. Sasuke sighed. "He said he'll bring it back, he had to go to some test at the hospital. There was some argument thing of him being alive and not dead."

"He does have a driver's license right?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shrugged. Sasuke sighed again. "If he gets my car impounded then you have to borrow mine… and that's mine."

"You poor baby." Sasuke signed his homework and handed it off to Jiraiya. He packed up and followed Naruto out of the room. "He just has to get his cheek scrapped and his vitals checked and he'll be back. It's not like I didn't drive without a license for a year."

* * *

"Boop." Sasuke said as he quickly touched his meatball to Naruto's nose getting spaghetti sauce on him. Naruto tried for a second to lick it off before wiping it off on his finger and eating it. Sasuke smiled. "Thanks for putting up with this restaurant again; I know you hate coming here every single time. I'll see about reservations elsewhere for next time."

"It's the going out with you that I like; the place plays a minor part in it." Naruto said and smiled. He took a bite of his pasta and smiled. "So, art, I've heard we're going to be doing finger paints today."

"Who would do finger paints?" Sasuke asked confused. Naruto gave his 'guess' face. Sasuke scratched his head. "I have no clue who teaches art, I'm not in those classes."

"Anko…" Sasuke nearly dropped his fork. "I'm freaking serious. She's just as weird accept now she's addicted to coffee which means she's wired and then tired and hates me all the way around class."

"She doesn't hate you, she loves to torment you, it's different." Sasuke stirred his spaghetti on the plate and took a fork full in his mouth. He chewed it in silence as he thought. Swallowing he looked back towards Naruto. "We think Madara's planning something big… I wish you would come to the meeting. I don't like not knowing where you are. He's take you without thinking."

"Don't worry. I promise I'll be fine. Plus, and you'll like this, they take in retired police dogs. I think I'll be fine. You have been teaching me how to fight." Naruto pointed out and grabbed his pop. He took a sip and set it down. "You seem off today."

"Your roommate picked on me in class today." Sasuke confessed slowly. His eyes gave off a little 'this is partially your fault' gaze. Naruto just shrugged and Sasuke relaxed a bit more leaning back in his chair.

"Did you pick back?" Naruto asked and then shoved more of his pasta in his mouth.

"Of course, it's me." Sasuke said like it was a dumb question. "Like I would let him get away with that. I hate him too much."

"Then you're even." Naruto said with his mouth full. He quickly closed his jaw and continued chewing hoping to get away with having no manners. He swallowed and quickly took another bite in hopes that it would help somehow.

"You over simplify too much." Was all Sasuke said in retort. He looked over at Naruto who put his silverware in the bowl and moved it to the middle of the table.

"As you've told me time and time again." Naruto stood up and pushed the chair back in the table. He walked over and kissed Sasuke on the forehead. "I've got to get ready for class; I want to change out of these clothes. Finger paint doesn't have a place on a nice shirt. I'll call you when I'm done babysitting."

"Be careful. Keep your phone charged." Sasuke pulled his head down and kissed him quickly. Naruto smiled and walked away hands in pockets.

* * *

"WHO THE HELL STARTED THE FINGER PAINTING RUMOR?" Anko said bursting into the room in a too-tight high school tee-shirt and black sweat pants. She set her coffee down on her desk and grabbed a large golf club. She raised it up. "I had to have a meeting with the crazy bitch who's in charge of Art because she thought I was going to do FINGER PAINTS! FINGER PAINTING is for CHILDREN! The person responsible is going to get their heads bashed IN!"

She lowered the club and tilted her head smiling innocently. "Okay now! Today is our Saturday two to six class, meaning we're doing something with clay. You can make whatever you want with the clay except for penises. I didn't say that last year and I should have. Last year Sai made a broadsword, did you bring it?"

"Yes." Sai said leaving his seat next to Naruto and walking up to the side of Anko's desk to grab something wrapped in cloth. He unfolded it to reveal a shimmering sword. He stood it up to show it was as tall as he was. "It took fifteen pounds of clay and several days on and off in here. I painted the blade using a metallic spray paint and the hilt is covered in died cotton with a gold leaf on the hand guard and false jewels embedded."

"This is the standard. You will have until Tuesday to finish your whatever, I will be here everyday from 8 to 8, minus lunch and various wanderings. If the door is unlocked you can come in here and work on it. The kiln is only operated by me! Don't try; you'll burn the building down.

"This being said, you may choose to submit a group work. I give you this warning, if your project is incomplete, you will all fail. A group grade is a group grade. Be careful choosing." Anko said and grabbed a wagon full of clay and rolled it in the center of the room. "Have fun! I'm going to bug people on Facebook!"

"Dude!" Naruto said quickly looking at Gaara. "We have to team up."

"What's the plan then? What's out thing going to be?" Gaara asked. They stopped and shrugged at each other. "I don't want to do something cheesy…"

"I want to do something huge and awesome! Like were both deprived of sleep and our viens are filled with clay." Naruto said looking at everyone else. "They're all doing small things, I want something big."

"What are we doing then…" Gaara stopped and smiled. He blinked a couple of times and smiled. "Han Solo in carbonite."

"As long as we don't make any money off it, it's considered fan art right? That'd be awesome! Let's get started!"

"We need to build a wooden frame. The shape won't hold otherwise." Gaara said. He looked around the room and didn't see anything. "We might have to go buy the stuff."

"I'll go ask Anko if it's okay to do." Naruto and Gaara grabbed their things and walked up to Anko who was starring at the screen on her little phone.

"Like I give a rats ass if you hate broccoli… Hey boys, ditching?" She asked pointing at the bags. She sighed and stood up trying to remember the rules of the college. "Unless a class has a field trip it is expressly looked down upon for students…"

"We have to get some wood to make a frame, do you mind if we run somewhere and get it?" Naruto asked and stuck out his lip pouting. She stopped her speech and glared at him. She cocked and eye brow and grabbed her coffee. "What?"

"Why do you need a wood frame?" She asked simply and took a sip of the dark liquid. "You're not planning on doing a Rubix cube are you, I hate those things."

"Because the foundation is a six inch slab of clay." Gaara said and smiled. He though for a minute and moved his hands thinking. "It's going to be four feet by seven feet."

"Holy shit, what are you doing, constructing a house?"

"Han Solo actually." Anko stopped and looked at Naruto. She questioned him with her look and he nodded.

"Seriously?" They both nodded starring at her. "Alright, go get your supplies and get back here. Remember a hammer and nails, I don't have that. You better do it good too, I love Harrison, and if you mess up his face, I'll fail you."

"We won't." Gaara promised and he and Naruto walked out of the art class room. As they walked out of the hall Naruto pulled out his phone and dialed quickly. "Calling Sasuke?"

He shook his head and waited another second before, "He Suigetsu, can we borrow your van? Gaara and I… We need to get lumber for our art project. Yea, I still have my key to it. Thanks!" Naruto ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He then reached in his back pocket and pulled out a key ring with at least ten different keys. "I got us a van to use."

"We'll that's handy." Gaara said and sighed. "Can you ask Sasuke to lay off references to my dead mother?"

"What? He said you picked on him first." Naruto said quickly. Gaara shook his head. "What's your side of the story."

"I told Jiraiya that Sasuke might be able to give us the leading lady's viewpoint from Scarlet Letter, you've told me how he used to get beat up and how people ignored you, that's what happens in the book. I said he might be able to share something, and he told me to share when we reviewed Bambi…"

"Don't worry about it too much," Naruto said laying a hand on his shoulder. They exited the building and he looked up in the sky. "Relate his life to Snow White. Both parents dead, and the most evil in the land as a guardian."

"I don't want to sink to his level…" Naruto removed his hand and used it to scratch nervously. Gaara looked at him with a straight face. "Or is that not possible."

"You don't know how low his level will go, and I'd encourage you not to find out." Naruto said thinking of the gun he carried in his glove box.


	16. Like A Snow Globe

"What excuse did you give him this time?" Kisame asked as Nagato and Konan walked into Sasori's smallest class room. The small room had been sound proofed due to the bone saws that were used on animal dissection and the only way in was with Sasori's key or to be let in. "The old 'It's date night' lie again?"

"Nope, actually we didn't have to lie, we're going to see Konan's doctor after this and get the latest ultrasound." Nagato said happily. Konan just rolled her eyes and smiled at her husband's excitement. "We haven't seen an updated picture in a month."

"It looks like a fetus." Kisame said quickly. He rolled Sasori's chair out for her to sit in it. Konan thanked him and carefully lowered herself down. There was a quick knock at the door. In the little window was a wrist with a little Black Bird tattooed on it. Kisame walked over to the door and opened it to see Sasuke walk in with his head phones blaring, behind him were Itachi and Deidara arguing as usual. Both were blaming each other for whatever they could. Kisame went back to Nagato and Konan. "Oh yea, Deidara's back."

"Will they eventually shut up?" Nagato asked scratching the stubbles on his face. Kisame shrugged. "Oh great, they're arguing more then usual. Those guys…"

"YOU TWO BE QUIET!" Konan shouted. Itachi and Deidara sat down in the desks closest and starred quietly foreword. "It's bad enough it feels like I have a baby whale growing inside me and that I throw out my back from walking, I don't need to hear you two bicker!"

The door opened again and Sasori walked in and closed it firmly behind him. "Is everyone here?"

"Where's Naruto?" Nagato asked. "He's their current target and they were planning on trying to take him tonight…"

"Tonight?" Sasuke said ripping his head phones out. "That's something you tell me immediately and not wait until you can announce it to the group. He's in danger!"

"Calm down, they were planning. I think they all came to the new conclusion of 'His dad's going to kick our asses' and are going to try and take a different approach. I don't know what it is yet, but he's the least in danger right now. They don't want Minato to freak out and go berserker killing all of them."

"It's logical they will try to make Naruto get them a sample someway. 'If you can't put him in danger make him work for you', I believe that's what Madara said about you, dear." She said nodding to Nagato. "Anyone Naruto is close to is in danger. This includes you Sasuke, though I doubt they would try and target you again. Hidan can only be shot so many times."

"What else is up on Madara's end, he's been really quite lately." Itachi asked. "We usually receive mail from him at the mansion asking us how were doing, which is creepy by the way. We haven't received anything in two months."

"He's moving back into his old warehouse, the one he used to smuggle drugs from. He figured it'd be too painful for you and Sasuke to go there since that place is the reason your parents…" Both Uchiha's heads dropped. "All we have to do is keep our eyes out. Konan's helping me sabatoage them in little ways."

"I stole all of Madara's erasable markers!" She said and proudly pulled out a full rainbow of them from her purse. Everyone looked clueless at her. She sighed and put them away. "While you all were not paying attention all these years, I know at least one thing all of you can not function without. One of Madara's is his erasable markers. He loves dry erase boards, he refuses to use chalk because of its possibility to create dust to contaminate projects. He'll be useless until he can get more, it'll be about three days. I'll then steal his favorite mug."

"Are you sure we shouldn't be guarding against you, because that is evil." Kisame said crossing his arms and shivering from the thought of what she could do to them. "Tormenting an old man like that, it's absolutely vicious and I demand you catch his frustration on video."

"I will." She assured. "More importantly. How aware is Minato of this threat on his DNA?"

"Apparently so much that Madara and Orochimaru dropped by Naruto's dorm to catch up on old times." Sasuke said trying to remember what Naruto had said about it. "I can't recall that much but I can get him on speaker."

Sasuke pulled out his phone and dialed. Suddenly the tone filled up the room. "Hello?"

"Hey Naruto, we're in meeting. We need what happened when Madara and Orchimaru stopped by." Sasuke said quickly. Suddenly in the background there was a loud screech. That sound off was followed by another. "Are those the kids you're babysitting?"

"Yay, twins, let me go sit them down really quick." The phone thudded and suddenly the Scooby Doo theme song began blarring. It slowly got quieter and Naruto sighed into the phone. "They keep asking me for pizza… Um… They came in saying they were just going to talk. Madara recognized Gaara, looked like they were about to fist fight."

"What? He knows Gaara?" Sasori yelled over at the phone. Sasori sat down in a chair running his hand through his failing hair. "I failed already…" He slammed his fist into wall behind him.

"I don't know, I never asked him and I don't remember much, but they defiantly were not friendly with each other. There was something about Itachi's design taste, I think Madara hates it. Um… there was a lot…"

"You guys actually talked?" Nagato threw out there. "They really did just want to talk to him, didn't they?"

"Until they asked about 9. Dad said he was retiring and Orochimaru got upset, I think he said if he saw either of them again he would crush their skulls in." Naruto said. Suddenly there was screaming in the background. "Candy skulls… They're like a giant piece of candy. I have to go."

The phone clicked off. Sasuke put the phone away. "Apparently, he knows more then they do."

"We should call him in and talk with him." Deidara said. "I have lawyer jargon, I can confuse him."

"If you get him when he's drunk that might work." Itachi commented to the side. "I still don't trust him. He just shows up from the dead and assumes that everything's going to be alright."

"Itachi, we've talked about this. Minato and Naruto are a different breed, they give trust first, they don't make people earn it." Sasori said. "You have to learn that sometimes people do just come back from the brink."

"I still don't like it… Using the excuse that 9 sent him here to babysit Sasuke." Itachi crossed his arms and got up to walked over to the windows. He glared out between the blinds and sighed. "Why would 9 be interested in Sasuke?"

"Well, Sasuke was developed differently then you, he was developed with 9's technology. 9 might feel that Sasuke is one of his projects just like Orochimaru and Minato are." Konan said. "They're all lab rats to him."

"How can someone think like that?" Kisame asked and the room went quiet in thought.

* * *

"Thank you so much!" The mother said closing the door behind him. Naruto had made sixty dollars in four hours, which he thought was awesome. He walked over to the Corvette and pulled his phone out as he stuck the key in the ignition. He started the car and heard the click of the phone being answered. "Yes…"

"Way to sound gloomy, hun." He said quickly and began out into the street. "Where are you?"

"After the meeting we all came to the mansion, we're having a 'be depressed' party." Sasuke said slowly. "Let's just say, nobody's happy…"

"That bad?" Naruto asked coming to the stop sign. "I'll be there in a bit wait to open the gate for me, okay?"

"Okay, bye." The phone hung up and Naruto doubted going to a place that was in that much sadness. He continued on and found Sasuke smoking a cigarette shirtless by the open gate with one of his knives in hand fixing his nails. Naruto drove up behind all his car and shut the Corvette off. He got out and waited for Sasuke to walk up.

Sasuke stopped by him, put his knife away and grabbed his hand smiling somewhat. As they walked inside Sasuke started to mutter about everything. "Sasori thinks he failed Gaara, I feel like someone's science project, Itachi feels unsafe and Kisame feels threatened by Konan's sense of perception. Deidara wasn't affected so he's cooking dinner."

"Deidara's back?" Naruto asked. "I haven't seen him in forever. Does he still look like a chick?"

"I don't, nor have I ever looked like a chick!" Deidara replied calling out from the kitchen. Deidara walked out in a kitchen apron and waved a spatula at him. "I am just a man with long beautiful hair!"

"Keep telling yourself that." Sasuke said to him. Deidara got angry and walked back into the kitchen muttering. "He's been super sensitive sense he got back."

"Are we going to crash here then, because I'm tired as all get out." Naruto said and looked at Sasuke pathetically. "Four year old twins are difficult. Plus I've got to wake up early tomorrow and go work on my art project."

"Yeah, come on, I'll go tuck you in." Sasuke said and followed him upstairs to the side bedroom they had taken. They opened the door and Naruto walked over to the full sized bed and collapsed. As he cuddled to the comforter Sasuke climbed in bed behind him and wrapped an arm over him. He sighed and cuddled him. "Honey you should take off your shoes… Honey?"

Sasuke lifted himself up and looked at Naruto's face. He was asleep already and had slowly begun to snore softly into the blanket. Sasuke sat up and slid to the end of the bed grabbing on of Naruto's feet. He slowly undid the laces and took the shoe off dropping it on the floor at the end of the bed. He grabbed the other and repeated the process while Naruto's slowly turned over. As the shoe dropped Sasuke got off the bed and covered Naruto it the part of the comforter he could snag away from the dozing blonde. As he watched him sleep, Sasuke smiled and walked over to his face. He placed a careful finger down and brushed away a single lock that looked like it was going in Naruto's eye.

Sasuke walked away and shut the door behind him silently. He turned around to see his brother coming up the stairs. Sasuke walked over and waited for him to come up. "What's up, _mon frère?"_

"_Suivre, s'il vous plait." _ Itachi whispered and walked down the hall waving Sasuke after him. Itachi opened the double doors to what used to be his room and let Sasuke in to sit at the desk he had causing a giant dust ball to float into the air. Itachi closed the door and leaned against them stairing into the old and unused room. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at Sasuke for a minute. "We're not in danger anymore."

"They're going after Naruto." Sasuke said and picked up an old snow globe off of the desk and shook it. He watched the little plastic flakes float around the tree inside. "That means we need to watch him more carefully."

"Correct, he's in danger because they want to use him." Sasuke tilted his head and stared at his brother and glanced once at the globe before setting it down. Sasuke shook his head not understanding. "Think like Madara for a second, if you wanted him to get a DNA sample, a good sample, you'd have to go after someone he'd notice was gone instantly and would do anything for."

"I can fight them off." Sasuke assured his brother with a little bit of aggression in his tone.

"I wasn't talking about you." Itachi stressed quickly. "You're his boyfriend, but Gaara's his best friend. He's also not genetically enhanced and wouldn't know what to do with a gun pointed directly at his skull. He'd be there perfect target."

"I hope they shoot him." Sasuke said and then quickly made a large boom sound and dropped his head like he had just been murdered. Itachi grunted causing Sasuke to straighten back out. "It'd would solve a lot of problems."

"You will protect him, like you protected Naruto two years ago." Itachi said laying down the law. "You will not tell Naruto, Gaara, Sasori or anyone else. Kisame already knows and I was going to get a hold of Minato, though I may not like him, I will work with him for others safety, as should you."

"I was in love with Naruto back then and was doing anything to even talk to him. I hate Gaara." Sasuke explained and thought for a minute to explain his hatred. "In a room with Hitler and him, I'd shoot Hitler and beat in Gaara's head with the gun."

"Sasuke!" Itachi yelled. He suddenly pulled his hands together trying to calm down and began muttering to himself. As soon as he calmed down enough Itachi looked at him. "Do it, don't argue, or else."

Itachi turned around and opened the door leaving Sasuke alone. Sasuke grabbed the snow globe and looked at it again. The flakes slowly twirled at his shaking hands. He smashed it on the desk.


	17. Oww

"I'm going in to start on Han's face since it's going to take all day, you want to come in and help? I've got the body out line done on the clay." Gaara said over the phone. Naruto looked over at the empty part of bed next to him, the messed up pillows and blankets were shown off by the day light entering the window. "Anko said she'd help sculpt the eyes, apparently it's something she has experience with."

"Um… I'll call you back a in a little bit. I've got to eat and see what's going on today, but I do have classes this afternoon. Talk to you in a bit?" Naruto moved the phone away from his mouth and yawned. "Later."

He hung up and shoved his phone in his back pocket. As he pressed himself up off the pillow sat up on his knees and looked through the giant window at the head of the bed. He stared into the sunrise for a minute and got off the bed. The door was cracked open to the hall and he peeked out to see nothing; however he could smell food coming from downstairs that wafted upstairs. He began out and ran down the stairs directly into the kitchen. Itachi was there by the stove cooking pancakes. He looked up and smiled. "Sasuke's morning classes started early. His creative writing class is going on a field trip to an old cemetery for inspiration for their piece about death. He left you something in his office."

"Oh, okay." Naruto said and walked over to the fridge and opened it to stare at all the food in there. He took a second and grabbed a water bottle closing the door. "Can you make me some pancakes too?"

"No problem." Itachi said and open a cupboard to grab the pancake mix out again. Naruto said thank you through a yawn and headed out down the hall. He reached the office and opened the door. A wave of smoke escaped and burst into Naruto's face. He stepped back coughing and opened the door to let it air out more. He waited a minute and entered turning on the light. Inside was a giant frog plush holding a dozen roses. Naruto then looked to its side to see a newly drawn image of him sleeping and three dead cigarette buds in the ash tray next to it. He picked up the picture and looked at it before flipping it over. 'I'll be back for our algebra class.'

Naruto sighed. He grabbed the frog and carried it in his arms back to the kitchen where Itachi had set out a plate of pancakes for him. Itachi handed him the plate and saw the frog. "You know I had to talk him out of getting you actual frogs. You wouldn't be in one place long enough to care for them properly, plus if they ever got out…"

"Maybe one big toad or something would have been okay." Naruto argued and went to sit down at the little table inside the kitchen. He set the frog down in the seat next to him. He pulled his phone out and began texting. Itachi finished his plate and sat down across from Naruto at the nook table. "I would have loved a toad, but you're right, I'm too busy for it right now."

"I can see that." Itachi commented on the texting. "I take it you're talking to Gaara?"

"I take it Sasuke has ranted about how he hates that we constantly text each other?" Naruto said sending the text. He set the phone down and shrugged.

"Among other things." Itachi muttered cutting into his food. He put some in his mouth and chewed it slowly. As he swallowed his tried to think of how to phrase it to put Sasuke out of a bad light."He has that child mentality of everything he likes is his stuff."

"I've noticed." Naruto said quickly and suddenly devoured his plate of food. He got up and put it in the sink. "I don't know why he's so jealous. He can have a best friend but I can't."

"Sasuke's had a lot of people taken away from him. You'd be clingy too." Itachi said and watched as Naruto grabbed his phone and the frog and walked out of the kitchen.

* * *

"Hey." Naruto said walking into the art room with a bag of silver spray paint. He set it down and sat down next to Gaara and the slab of clay. Gaara had the basic shape of the head down and was working carefully on the hair.

"Hey." He said looking up from finishing one of carbonite layers.

"Alright. Now, I'm getting coffee. You two had better have the face done so I can show you how to do eyes when they're closed when I get back." Anko said grumbling. She kicked the door open and marched out stomping.

"Bye Anko." Gaara said quietly. He rolled his eyes and grabbed more clay.

"She seems angry this morning." Naruto noted as he began trying to shape the forehead.

"You noticed? She nearly ripped my head off this morning." Gaara said. "Apparently the art director is breathing down her neck again because someone kept going on about us having weapons in class."

"You know I just realized this is going to take forever…" Naruto said and thought for a minute. "And this is due tomorrow."

"I don't have any classes today, so I can finish up what we don't get done." Gaara said relaxed. Placed some clay at the bottom of the face clump and began working on the neck.

"That's a relief." Naruto scooped someof the clay away from where the eye sockets would be and shaped a basic nose. "How's that?"

"He has a bigger nose, but we'll work on that after Anko comes back." Gaara quickly pulled some papers from his back pocket and handed them over. "It's what I could find online. One of them ahs great face details."

"Here she comes…" Naruto said hearing the stomps. Anko walked in a little more chipper and slid over to them on he skate shoes. She looked down at the work and sighed.

"Naruto go fill a cup with warm water, Gaara go grab a knife out of those cupboards." Both boys got up immediately. Anko took the second to herself and sipped at the coffee in her cup. She took a second to smell the aroma and swish it around in her mouth. Naruto sat the cup down next to her and Gaara handed her a butter knife. She set her coffee down and grabbed the knife. She dip it in water and began to explain. "Wet the tip of the knife and press on it with your thumb. Smooth it like this." She took a slow and steady swipe and the eyelid began to appear. "This is how you will smooth the entire face. His other eye's going to be the same as this."

"Cool." Naruto said as she set down the knife and picked her coffee back up.

"This is also how you frost cakes well!"

"That's a handy bit of info." Gaara added. She stood up and took another sip.

"I know." Se smiled and looked towards the windows. She suddenly snapped. "Get back to work!"

Both boys jumped a bit as she went back over to her desk. Gaara sighed and picked the knife up and dipped it in the water. "So how'd babysitting go?"

"Awesome, though twins are hard to keep up with. You're chasing after them and suddenly they both go opposite directions…" Naruto sighed and tossed more clay on the slab and began smoothing it out according to the picture. "I got sixty bucks from it though."

"That's cool." Gaara said and began smoothing out the other eye. "Stupid face, having all this detail."

"It's going to look awesome in our dorm room though!" Naruto said happily tossing more clay on the chest area. "We'll be the only people with Han Solo."

"I'll finish the face up, why don't you start working on his hands?" Gaara said and began working on creating a basic mouth opening.

"Okay." Naruto grabbed more clay and began shaping the hand. He made a thumb and began on the palm it was attached to. "This is going to look awesome."

Gaara looked over at him and saw something weird. "Hey... Naruto are you bleeding?"

Naruto looked at his hand and saw a large shallow gash that was bleeding pretty badly. Without a second thought Naruto began screaming. Gaara quickly dropped the knife and yelled at Anko. "Get some paper towels!"

"Ah! There's blood!" She frantically ran over to the sink. Gaara without thinking grabbed his thumb and shoved it in his mouth to try and stop the blood. As Anko began searching for paper towel the two watched her with a more relatively calm nature. "Don't bleed everywhere! Don't bleed everywhere! I don't want to get fired! I FOUND IT!"

Anko grabbed a roll of brown paper towel and rushed it over. She ripped Naruto's thumb out of Gaara's mouth and began wrapping it. Anko kept wrapping it and then pulled some masking tape out and taped it shut. "Okay, you need to get sown up… But if you go to the student center you'll have to report that it happened here…"

"Um… Uncle Sasori can do it off the records." Gaara pulled out his phone and dialed. "Hi, Naruto gashed his finger open and we can't go to the student center or Anko will be fired… Yeah, we're in art 104, we have paper towels on it. Thanks bye." Gaara hung up the phone applied pressure to his thumb. "He said to keep a good amount of pressure on it and if it bleeds through to keep adding more paper and not take it off."

"Am I going to lose my finger?" Naurto asked as he saw a little red appear on the outside of the paper towel.

"No, you're fingers not that bad. What did you cut it on?" Anko looked around and saw something dark in the clay she picked it out and stared at a blood covered shard of dried clay. "Apparently Han is trying to get you… You'll have to be extra careful when finishing. Someone must have left the clay out too long."

"Oh goody." Gaara said and grabbed more paper towels and put them around the wound. "Well, looks like you're done for the day. We can't have you getting clay in the wound."

"I'd be more worried about blood on Han." Anko said quietly and walked over to her desk to grab her coffee. "It's bad enough someone wants me fired, I don't need any accidents in here."

"Who's trying to fire you?" Sasori asked walking in with a small bag. She waved. "I take it it's someone who doesn't like your style?"

"I think it's a faculty member, I'm not sure though science guy." She said forgetting his name. "It's not like I'm threatening anyone's job, I filled a vacant position that no one had applied for…"

"Who's the art director?"

"Same as athletics, Danzo… I wish he would fall over and die." She said quietly. She gripped her cup tightly as Sasori opened a small bag with a suture kit inside. Sasori grabbed the paper towel wadded thumb from Gaara and unwrapped it. He pulled out a needle and a length of string. Naruto watched as he prepped it and put it to his skin.

"Take a breath." Sasori said. Naruto did and held it in as the needle slowly entered and exited his skin. He closed his eyes as he didn't want to watch but felt it go in and out again followed by the tug of the thread. "Two more."

Sasori dipped the needle into him again and pulled it out, then in again and out. He tugged the string taught and tied it. "Now, why don't you two come by tonight and I'll check it out. I'll be at my office."

"Okay." Gaara said and watched as Sasori put the needle into a little jar and cut the loose string. "It's over; you can open your eyes."

Naruto peeked an eye open. He looked down at the thumb that was still blood covered but was closed tight. "Well, this isn't want I was expecting to happen today…"

"Could have been worse." Sasori said. He sighed and thought a little bit. "When Gaara was four…"

"Not this story." Gaara said and quickly busied himself with the clay. He focused and tried to ignore the story.

"Oh shush." Sasori said patting his nephew on the head. "Anyway, when he was four the entire family was outside and he managed to open the screen door and get into the kitchen. He grabbed a knife off the counter and accidentally cut his stomach open, not to the muscle or anything, but he was bleeding really badly."

"Oww… I'm never letting you in my kitchen…" Naruto picked at him. Sasori nodded agreeing with the idea and stood up. "Well, thanks for the stitches."

"Yep. Just don't let it get infected; you don't want your thumb amputated." Sasori said and walked out cheerily with his suture kit. Naruto grasped his injured finger and stared at it.

"Dude… I can't do anything with it."

"And that's your right hand, how are you going to write?" Gaara asked.

* * *

Naruto arrived a minute before the bell went off and sat down next to Sasuke looking quite pathetic. Sasuke looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Did you not finish the homework again?"

"I cut open my finger will you write for me?" Naruto asked nearly whimpering. He held it out and Sasuke stared at it. "Please? Sasori says if it gets infected it has to be amputated."

"Well, that's only if it gets infected badly enough. Yeah, I'll take notes for you." Sasuke said and grabbed his hand by the palm and kissed it. "How'd you cut it?"

"Stupid people leaving stuff out over night…"

"Right…" Sasuke said not having a clue what his beloved blond was talking about.


	18. In Deep

Just so you all know, this is updating randomly until after November, NaNoWriMo is coming and I'm trying to get situated for that.

* * *

"This isn't smart…" Sasuke said as he and his big brother walked quietly through the suburban neighborhood. "You know it's a trap, as do I. He even said it was a trap."

"So? It's still polite." Itachi stopped under a street light and pulled a gun out of his sleeve. Sasuke copied him. They smiled at each other. "I think we'll be fine."

"Only because we think so alike." Sasuke muttered. They did a quick check on ammunition and hid the weapons back away. They continued on and sighed. "You know, I was going to take Naruto on a date tonight. I had to cancel the reservations and everything. You couldn't have told him we were busy tonight and then checked with me?"

"Nope, of course not. Anyway, it wasn't a 'is tomorrow okay' conversation. This was more 'if you get trapped you'll be able to get more of Madara's plans because he likes old-timey villains' type of talk." Itachi said and also placed his phone up his other sleeve. He turned to his brother. "We have Deidara and Kisame on stand by. They're at the mansion with whatever arsenal Kisame's been carrying with him all this time."

"At least we have someone on stand by. I'll tell Naruto." Sasuke said and pulled out his phone. Itachi quickly snatched it from his brother's grasp and shoved it in Sasuke's back pocket. "If we get in trouble…"

"Naruto doesn't think to clearly. He would probably freak right out and rush over. They would have him, Minato might cave. It's too much of a risk. We have to do this without him knowing, though I know you've been keeping a lot of this quite." Itachi said. Sasuke looked to the ground and observed the differences in shade as they passed from street light to street light. "If I could, I would do the same thing with you. It's easier not to know most of the time. Naruto doesn't even know they are after his dad yet, does he?"

"No, he thinks they are simply trying to use him to contact 9." Sasuke told him as they stopped in front of a small house. It was abandoned with a large 'For Sale' sign in the front yard. The two sighed at the same time. "Okay, let's go play."

"Yep." Itachi said taking the lead. He climbed the stairs of the house and opened the front door. As he walked in he saw a familiar sight. Kabuto was in an apron with a tray of tea. "Alright, where's Orochimaru?"

"He's right over here." Kabuto said and nodded to the room to the side. He balanced the tray and slid the door open. "Orochimaru, you're guests have arrived."

"You know I was thinking you weren't going to show up." Orochimaru stood up slowly and nodded as the brothers entered the room. There was a couch and a recliner with a little table in between, and that was all he had brought into the house. "Please, have a seat, Kabuto just made me some tea. Anything you would like?"

"If you have some chamomile that would be nice." Itachi said walking in and taking a seat. Sasuke was a little more hesitant but followed his brother to the couch. He refused to undo his arms until he had too; he wanted his hand as close as possible to the gun. Kabuto set the tea set down and immediately made a B-line to the kitchen. Itachi leaned foreword and whispered. "I'm surprised he's still trained after all these years."

"Once I remind him that I chose to raise him, he's a bit more grateful." Orochimaru smiled and stuck out his hand. Itachi shook it. "At least you're not too turned off by this meeting, I see your brother over there is quite stoic."

"He was going to take Naruto out tonight; he's still a bit cranky about it." Itachi said. Sasuke simply growled a bit and turned his head away from them to start spotting out possible openings. "Anyway, thanks for the tea. It's very nice. I put it in my tea cupboard."

"That's right, you just bought your own house. Congratulations. You're a home owner before thirty!" Orochimaru raised his tea cup toasting him and took a sip. "I've sent you a house warming present, did you get it?"

"The tea set, it was awesome. We're did you find one make of pure granite?"

"You two… are so boring. I would rather talk with Madara. At least he's entertaining to some degree and I could get investing advise at the same time." Sasuke said flat out. "When are they going to show up so I can just shoot him in the face?"

"Not for another hour. You're very rude, you know Sasuke. At least your brother is polite." Orochimaru said as Kabuto brought in a second tray. He set it down and pulled a can of soda from his cargo pocket. He handed it to Sasuke who thanked him quickly. "Kabuto, you are so thoughtful."

"I just figured he wasn't into tea." Kabuto said and sat down on the floor. He pulled out a bottle of water and opened it. He watched as Itachi and Orochimaru carried on.

"So, your house. What's it like?" Orochimaru asked seemingly interested.

"Big barn house. Nice country feel. It's very welcoming." Itachi described. He went into the wood details and the land. "It's even got an old barn way out by the wood lines. I'm thinking of turning it into another house and renting it out.

"I couldn't imagine you picking anywhere else to live. You're a traditionalist." Orochimaru smiled. "I used to be a land lord, and I can tell you, it's far harder than anything I've done. They manage to break the silliest things as fast as possible. One man broke the sink twice, shattered it. I figures out he kept sitting on it, the fat ass."

"Boring…" Sasuke mumble under his breath. He pulled out his phone and began playing games on it.

"I have a feeling that we are boring your brother." Orochimaru set his tea cup down on the table and turned to Sasuke. He crossed his arms and legs and watched him.

"Yea, he get's bored easily." Itachi said agreeing.

Orochimaru watched him for another minute before raising a finger to his mouth. "So Sasuke, how are you and Naruto?"

"Fine." Sasuke answered quickly. He tried to ignore looking up and let his eyes just stay on the screen watching as the little blocks were destroyed by the balls.

"He's jealous that Naruto has a best friend." Itachi chimed in. "Someone else now talks to him and he doesn't like it at all."

"I am not, I simply hate his guts." Sasuke said and lost his game. He closed it and shoved the phone away going back to his crossed arm angry position.

"Is it the red head, the one that's Sasori's nephew?" Orochimaru asked. Itachi nodded as he took a sip of his tea. "He stuck a sword to my throat. He's a quickly little soulless bastard."

"Soulless bastard is right." Sasuke said agreeing.

"Please don't encourage his behavior, okay?" Itachi asked liked a concerned parent.

"He doesn't need to. You know I want him dead. I don't like him."

"You know, if you were in a strong relationship you wouldn't feel so threatened." Orochimaru said. His eyes glared as Sasuke until the Uchiha looked up with his red eyes burning back at him. Orochimaru just rolled his eyes at him and poured himself a new glass of tea. "Oh please, I've lived and loved long enough to know better then you. What's making you and Naruto fall apart?"

"Nothing, I just have to kill Madara and everything will be fine." Sasuke assured everyone. He shut his mouth and then realized he had nearly yelled the sentence. A quiet fell over the room and was only interrupted by Itachi shifting in his seat. They all watched Sasuke for a minute. He turned to his brother and to Orochimaru and stated calmly: "There is nothing wrong with me and Naruto."

"He hasn't been telling him anything." Itachi confessed to the snake like man.

"Will you stop telling him everything?" Sasuke screamed at his brother. He quickly stood up. "I'm going for a smoke!"

* * *

"Now you can't make fun of me for having a teddy bear." Gaara said seeing Naruto with the frog plush. Naruto was laying on his bed watching movies with it stuffed under one arm. Gaara dropped his back pack at the end of the bed and flung himself down on the sheets. "Anko gave us an A on Han. Part of it probably had to do with you bleeding all over him… but she was genuinely impressed."

"Awesome. Now where are we going to out him?" Naruto asked pausing his movie. "In front of the window is a fire hazard, but it's the only space in here for him. We can't block the door and the dressers would block the window too."

"We'll think of something. Maybe we can suspend him from the ceiling?" Gaara asked. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the empty ceiling. "Look up at night, there's Han shimmering in the moonlight… That is super creepy to picture."

"Yea, that'd give me nightmares." Naruto said and sat up looking around. He moved his hand around measuring and scratched his head. "We can tilt my bed against the window with the wall and put Han on this wall."

"That'd work. You'd get stepped on in case of fire though…" Gaara said trying to imagine it.

Naruto scoffed at the idea. "That's what you think; I'd be out that window head first."

"Well, you want to go and bug Uncle Sasori?" Gaara asked.

"No, he's going to make my thumb hurt more…" Naruto grabbed his hand and looked at the injury. It had prevented him from doing basically anything today, including video games and using a computer. Gaara rolled his eyes at the thought. "He will."

"It won't be that bad and he'll be able to tell if it's becoming infected." Gaara ended the discussion there and Naruto got up and followed him out of the dorm room. As they walked over to the science building there was a weird silence between them until Gaara sighed. "So, why does he want to talk to both of us?"

"I hope it's to announce that we're getting a bigger dorm room… That'd be awesome, we'd have so much room to house Han." Naruto said thinking of a giant apartment. "Or… We're in trouble because we're us."

"We haven't gotten in trouble for that in a year… And how were we supposed to know the grill was lit?" Gaara said genuinely angry about what had happened. "It's not my fault the neighbor's cat caught on fire, but apparently he thinks so."

"Yea, why couldn't she keep her cat in her house?" Naruto opened the door to the science building and let Gaara in first. "Can't believe she tried to make the police pay for her dumb cat bill. It's not our fault it hit the grill and knocked it over."

"You two were grilling at three AM." Sasori said from inside his office. The door was open as the approached. He looked at them. "I understand teenaged boys consume as much food as a herd of elephants but you couldn't have just gone to a restaurant?"

"We we're hungry and short on cash." Gaara said and they walked in to see two chairs set in front of the desk. The each took one and stared at the man who was rubbing his eyes. "We did give some to help her afterwards."

"Moving on…" Sasori said and his phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out to look at it and ended the ringing. "Deidara's back and he's given me a whole new set of migraines. I found him in my house this morning going through my book collection. After agreeing to loan him several he finally left me alone physically."

"Just block his number." Naruto recommended.

"You can do that?" Sasori asked. He looked surprised and stared at his phone trying to think of where that feature would be. He shrugged and set it aside. "I'll figure out later. Anyway, Naruto, hand?"

Naruto held out his hand and Sasori leaned in grabbing it to examine the wound. He turned it and let it go. "It is okay?"

"I'll take out the stitches at the end of the week, it was a deep cut, it need to heal the skin and what's underneath." Sasori took a second and pointed at Gaara. He then turned to Naruto. "How does he know Madara?"

Both stopped. Naruto shrugged. "I honestly don't know. He's never been to a meeting, he's never been there besides when he showed up at the dorms." Naruto stopped and looked at Gaara. "How do you know Madara, and why was he upset at you?"

"I interviewed him when he was in prison. We had an argument, that's all." Gaara said and Sasori leaned back in his chair starring at his nephew. "That's all, I swear. You can check my newspaper collection, it was front page."

"Really, well that's great. Gaara go to the dorms. Now." Sasori said and watched as Gaara got up without another word. He left the room and the science building's front door shut loudly. "Naruto, I made Gaara your room mate for the simple fact that he is a good swordsman, but it seems he may have gotten himself over his head. Madara likes to kill people he doesn't like. If Gaara made that list…"

"I'll have my dad tail him and stay with us in the dorms." Sasori sighed and laid his head in his hands. "This has nothing to do with you. Don't worry, as long as he doesn't know about the manipulations he should be more then safe. If you are really worried about him… I'd find him a different room mate. I'm too connected in, my father, Sasuke, Itachi. I'm practically a big target."

"Have your father tail him, don't let him know anything that's going on. Just know that if anything happens to him… It was not on you." Gaara kept his breath still and slipped out the one front door that was held open by a brick. He left closing the door silently and went back to the dorms.


	19. The Best Laid Plans

"Anyway…" Orochimaru said as he looked at his watch. He sighed and got up to see Kabuto coming back with another tray. He sniffed it the scent and smiled. "Made Sasuke some hot coco? You're so thoughtful."

"Well, I know he doesn't like tea." Kabuto said and set the tray inside the room and handed Itachi a fresh cup of his tea. "It might taste different, it's a different brand. We have all these tea boxes and they all only had one packet left."

"That's fine." Itachi said. Kabuto moved to the wall and stood against it. They both looked out the door to see Orochimaru had gone. "He's gone to get Sasuke?"

"I assume they'll be here soon. I don't know though, I don't go to those meeting things Madara has. I prefer to just stay out of the way." Kabuto admitted. The door opened and Sasuke came in, cigarette still in mouth with a small smoke trail behind him. Kabuto quickly covered his mouth and nose with his shirt and tried to act like he didn't mind the smoke. "Sasuke, I made you hot chocolate if you want it."

"Thank you." He said and pulled the cigarette from his mouth. He grabbed the cup and took a small sip and set it back down. "So, what are we doing when they get here? Attack or let them take us?"

"What would you recommend, Orochimaru?"

"Well you see, Madara knew that we still talk, he thinks it is okay since he still sends you presents." Orochimaru said slowly he set down his tea cup and crossed his legs. "There was no way he, Hidan or Kakuzu could take you conscious."

Itachi set down the cup and sighed. He took Sasuke's cup away as well and set them on the table. "Smart, your plan?"

"Yes, don't worry, Madara promised no harm to either of you, since we have no interest in you anymore." Orochimaru said softly. He felt his phone go off and picked it up. Itachi felt his eyes go dark and suddenly lost consciousness. Sasuke shook his brother and then turned all attention to Orochimaru. He flicked his wrist and had his gun aimed at the flat point between the pale man's eyebrows. "Hello, yes, I think they're ready, though Sasuke's still awake."

"You think you're poison will work on me…" Sasuke asked. He felt drowsy, but not enough to fall asleep. He kept the gun pointed steady at Orochimaru. "I've had some more work done…"

"Sasuke's been playing geneticist apparently. You'll have to take him awake." Orochimaru said into the phone. As he closed it Sasuke felt a needle in his neck. Suddenly all his muscled clenched. Orochimaru smiled and stood up taking the gun from his hand. "You know, if it was really more ahead then me, I'd just take my sample from you."

Orochimaru looked at the gun turned it over and raised his eyebrows. "This was Zetsu's gun, why did you take it from him? You little rascal. You are piece of work… Kabuto, go wrap this up and we'll give it to Madara as a gift."

"Yes sir." Kabuto said. He took the gun by the bottom tip and carried it like it was covered in something unsanitary. Orochimaru checked Sasuke over quickly while Sasuke tried to mutter at him. Orochimaru smiled at him and pulled out his phone.

"Well, you can have this back after you're all tied up." Orochiamru said. He moved over to Itachi, found the gun in his sleeve, then patted down his pockets. Orochimaru found his phone and pulled it out as well. He looked at it and frowned. "Who'd he text…? Oh, you can't answer. I hope it was someone who knew what they were doing."

* * *

Deidara stared at the large screen and watched as the Death Star blew up. He looked over at Kisame. "You know, it gets better the bigger the screen."

"Well duh." Was all Kisame responded, he didn't even turning away from the rebels celebrating. Deidara's phone buzzed on the table before them. He picked it up and stared at it. "What is it?"

"We need to go, get your guns. Itachi's been taken by Madara." Deidara exited out of the '911' message and shoved his phone away. Kisame rushed into the kitchen and opened the cupboard under the sink. He quickly began pulling out gun after gun. "Damn, you've just been collecting them, haven't you?"

"That's good because you have four more hands." Deidara and Kisame turned around and saw Sasori marching in and throwing his coat off. Naruto followed him in on the phone muttering.

* * *

"It was not on you." Sasori said grimly. He sighed and looked down at the stack of paper work. "Well, I have to get back to work."

"Yippe…" Naruto's phone went off playing an annoying tune. He answered it with "Hey babe."

"Listen to me and listen well, I am at Orochimaru's place. We are going to get ourselves captured. I need you to head to the mansion, and help Deidara and Kisame if they need it. They are our back up team, do not accompany them, do you understand. You need to stay at the mansion and stay safe. Make sure you get a gun to protect yourself."

"But Sasuke that's…"

"Shut up and do it. Madara's not after me, he's after your father, and if you get caught Minato might cave." The called ended. Naruto lowered the phone and stared at Sasori with blank eyes. He looked up at him and sank. "What's happened?"

"We need to go, now!" Naruto said and began running out of the building and towards the cars. He burst through the doors and raced down the street towards the student parking lot. Sasori ran to his car, which was much closer and started it. He drove down the street and cut Naruto off from running by driving up on the side walk. Naruto didn't even think twice and got in the passenger seat. "The mansion."

Sasori pulled back into the street and headed towards the mansion speeding between the stop lights. "Now, take a breath, and what's going on?"

"Sasuke and Itachi are planning on getting caught by Madara." Sasori took in a deep breath and sighed. "They're already at Orochimaru's house… They're so fucking dumb…"

"They think they're invincible." Sasori looked at Naruto who had put his hands over his face trying to keep himself contained. "Sasuke hasn't told you anything has he?"

"At this point…" Naruto pulled his hands off his face and stared out the window. He pulled out his phone and began dialing a number. "I'd rather I hear whatever it is from him, no offense."

"It's okay." Sasori turned into the mansion dive and turned off his car. They exited quickly and walked into the mansion hearing Deidara in the kitchen. Naruto shoved the phone to his ear. "Damn, you've just been collecting them haven't you?"

"Dad, listen, Sasuke's gotten in trouble. Madara has him in an effort to get to me to get to you. I need your help." Naruto said as quietly as he could. He could hear Minato fumbling around. "Please, please, please, please."

"Where are you at?" He asked.

"The mansion, but we'll be going somewhere else probably." Naruto whispered. "I can text you when we get there. Okay?"

"Okay, keep safe." Naruto hung the cell phone up and shoved it away. He grabbed a gun off the floor, checked it for bullets and shoved it away in his back pocket.

"Itachi said you weren't allowed to go, no matter what." Kisame said looking at Naruto. His face didn't flinch. Kisame stared at him and pulled his final gun out of the cabinet. He tossed it at Naruto who caught it. "But I guess you don't care if they're trying to get you there so they can take you hostage to get to your dad."

"My dad already knows, he'll meet us there." Naruto assured and shoved that gun away alongside the other. "Don't worry, Sasuke spent the majority of the summer taking me to the firing range."

"Great, he wanted a shoot out." Deidara muttered. They all stood up looked around and sighed. "I personally am for just calling the police. I didn't come back here to be put back in danger. I came back here because I feel safer around you guys."

"We call the police, they all go to jail, Sasuke and Itachi go to jail, they come here and everyone goes to jail. All it takes is for one of them to squeal that we were involved somehow." Sasori said and held out his hand for a gun. "I'm growing tired of this too, I'm a fifty-four year old man, I have six years before I retire, I don't want to have to go into hiding then but I don't want to go to jail."

"We'll do this tactical then, if we can, we kill them. You two hang back, Naruto and I will go and face them, and we'll have your dad loom in the distance. I'll come up with a more through plan when we get there." Kisame said and scratched his head. "All of them dead would relieve us, and it's not like they don't deserve this."

"They need prison, not death. We can't sink to their level." Naruto canceled out Kisame idea immediately. "We only shoot knee caps and feet, make it so they can't run away. After we get Itachi and Sasuke back we'll call the police."

"Good thing none of these guns trace back to me then." Kisame grabbed his holster and they began to make there way out to the cars.

* * *

It smelled terrible, so terrible that Itachi jolted awake to see his brother having a very interesting conversation with Madara. "I don't need Christmas, Easter or Birthday presents from you. Remember, we hate each other. I ignore you; you ignore me, that's the way it's supposed to work."

"But I don't hate you; I'm merely upset at you. You really should have listened when you were younger. We wouldn't even be in this predicament if you had listen to your brother and not gone to see Orochimaru." Madara argued back pointed an old withered finger in his face. "Also, you need to cut your hair, get a decent suit and get a job. You can't live off my money forever."

"That's what you think. I began investing small amounts under Itachi's nose when I was sixteen. I've turned three hundred dollars into three thousand. That three thousand is now invested in CDs in four different banks. I've been slowly taking the rest of the money and investing it as well. So really, I can live off it forever." Sasuke smiled and looked over at Itachi who was looked at him through drowsy, drugged eyes. "Tell Madara how stupid he is."

"Ugh… Um…" Was all Itachi managed. He felt around and saw chains around his stomach but couldn't comprehend that he was chained to a support beam in an abandoned mine just outside of town. "Uh, head…"

"The drugs we used were quite powerful." Madara smiled and held up Itachi's phone. "Now, snake-breath said you texted someone before you were caught. Who was it?"

"Uh, Deidara…" Itachi said quietly.

"Oh, so he's back in town. Does he know you're here?" Itachi slowly shook his head. Madara went through the contacts list and found 'Dei Cell' and held it up to Itachi. "Is that him? Call him and tell him you're in the mining cave along Treefort path. Tell him we'll laugh at his rescue efforts."

Madara hit dial and held up the phone. It rang for a second before "Dude did you escape?" Came through the speaker and echoed through the cave.

"No… The mining cave, Treefort. I'm chained up, Madara…" Madara took the phone away and answered it. "You'll have to excuse Itachi, the drugs are wearing off. He'll be drowsy probably until you get here. So… I'll make you a deal, you bring me Minato and I'll let them go. You bring me Naruto and I'll let Itachi go. Either way, I'm going to get what I want."

"Listen you fucker." Madara jumped away from the phone surprised. He twitched trying to figure out who had the phone. "If you touch my family I'm going to quarter you."

"Oh, Hello Naruto." Madara said please. "So, you're coming, then?"

"Naruto you idiot! I told you to say at the mansion no matter what!" Sasuke yelled at the phone from the support beam he was chained to. "You never listen! This is why I can't tell you anything!"

"Aw, I think you pissed off Sasuke. Oh well, see you soon. Bye." Madara hung up cheerily and shoved the phone in Itachi's jacket pocket. "You know, it makes me so happy to see you so upset."

"I don't know why, I'm not upset at you, I'm upset at him. If you were a good uncle you would be concerned about my relationship and the fact that I'm upset that I can't let him know anything because he's too stupid and that's why you're a bad uncle!" Sasuke yelled. There were some laughs coming from the dim lighting coming from the cave opening. "You were so caught up in buying me useless shit that you completely missed the important things that Itachi had to pick up! He was more of a parent to me then you ever were and he never bought me a damn thing, he listened."

Madara looked spitefully at Itachi and walked away behind them somewhere where they couldn't see him. Itacih looked at Sasuke and whispered. "Watch what you say, Madara won't kill you but others… I'm sure you'll be safe though." Itachi smiled at him as Hidan and Kakuzu walked down with guns clearly holstered.

"Oh look, it's the spoiled brat and the traitor." Hidan walked over and smiled in their faces. "Wait 'til I get to fuck you up."

"You see, I'm actually gay so I'd enjoy that probably." Sasuke said and smiled.

"Faggot." Hidan said somewhat grossed out and walked away. Kakuzu snickered at Hidan and they too disappeared out of sight. Sasuke looked over at Itachi and they just laughed to themselves.


	20. Wake Up

Sorry it took so long, it's been like four months now. I'll have the next one up in a week, I promise. Enjoy ~ Aki

* * *

"Okay, listen, I'm going to play coward with Sasori and go in the back entrance." Deidara said handling his gun uneasily. He checked the ammo by popping out bullets from the handle and shoving them back in quickly. "It'll be five minutes for us to get around, so wait a few minutes, alright?"

"Naruto and I are going to charge in. Remember, only shoot in the knees if you have to at all." Kisame said as he scratched his head. Naruto stood next to him, clinging his cell phone and staring out towards the highway. "Second thought, try not to shoot at all."

"Right. We'll be careful." Sasori nudged Deidara's arm and they began towards the small path to the other cave entrance. As they disappeared Kisame turned his attention back to Naruto.

"Where's your dad at? I'm not exactly sane charging in there with just a teenager." Kisame nervously grabbed the gun handle and rubbed his finger on it to try and calm himself down. "Not that you probably couldn't hold your own..."

"He's coming. He said he'd meet us here." Naruto watched the surrounding areas until he saw what seemed like a flash of light. His dad stood over him and placed and loving hand on his head. Naruto smiled up at him. "Hey, thanks for helping."

"Well, it is all my fault isn't it? Do we have communications?" Kisame shook his head. "Not cell phones, I was hoping you'd have like... security stuff."

"We're at best a gang, try the mafia for that stuff." He said standing up. He pointed to the entrance. "They're in there, we've got two going around the back."

"Alright, try to stay behind me, if they shoot I'll take the bullet and you get my son out of there." Minato said glaring at Kisame. Kisame nodded and understood that he was personally in charge of Naruto if things went arry. Minato turned to Naruto and tried to cheer him up. "Don't worry we will get them out safely."

"Okay." Minato turned and waved for them to follow him in the cave.

* * *

"You two are no fun." Madara said slightly annoyed at the two brothers, who instead of being terrified and upset, had chosen to instead pick on him and let them know how bored they were. Sasuke had even bugged Madara for a cigarette, however it appeared Madara wasn't to keen about having the cave smoke-filled. "Why are you two so messed up?"

"Well duh, you raised us." Sasuke felt like his uncle was missing the the punchline, like when a mother called her child a son of a bitch. "Maybe if you didn't have my parents killed none of this would be happening."

"Is that all you go on about?" Madara asked him getting even more annoyed. All of a sudden the sounds of sliding rocks and people began echoing. Madara ran to pull up and tighten their gags and then stood between the two boys, somewhat excited. Lastly he checked to make sure the gun in his belt was still there. "Ah, our guests have arrived!"

Madara twitched excitedly as Minato, Kisame and Naruto slid into the room and stood at the opposite end. Minato sighed while habitually scratching his growing stubble. "Let them go."

"I will if..." There was a shimmer and then Madara smiled. Naruto had pulled out a gun with one hand and stabilized it with the other. "I see you've been picking up some bad habits, at least you have proper form. Can you pulled the trigger though?"

"Naruto, what did I tell you?" Minato said looking at his son. Naruto made no motion to lower the gun but smiled."You're about as stubborn as your mother. I believe you needed to see me over something?"

"I need your genetics." Madara put it simply. He opened his jacket and pulled out a packaged syringe. He held it up to the three men and tossed it to the floor of the cave. "I'll take just a drop of blood, it's all I need."

"No. Let them go and I'll only break your left leg." Minato threatened and cracked his neck by tilting his head quickly.

"Let's change things up." Madara's wrist flicked and a loud bang went off. Sasuke turned his head and saw his brother starring wide-eyed at him. Sasuke started jerking and grabbed the gag hard enough with his teeth to tug it loose. It dropped around his neck and he gasped.

"Itachi! ITACHI!" Itachi's head lowered slowly as his eyes closed. His hair fell loose and dangled around his face. Naruto watched helplessly as Sasuke struggled in his chains to try and get to his brother. "Je vous verrai mort. Itachi, wake up!"

"Next bullet." Madara said raising the gun to Itachi's head. He smiled and suddenly screamed as another loud bang went off in the room. Madara dropped his gun and grabbed his wrist as blood came rushing out. Naruto looked to his right to see Kisame had his gun out and was walking forward aiming for Madara's head. Another bullet ripped through the room this time just sliding past Kisame's head. He dodged to the side and Minato shoved Naruto down to the floor as well.

Hidan and Kakuzu walked in the room and instead of aiming at Naruto or Minato, both aimed at Sasuke.

"Move!" Madara ran in between then and disappeared into the darkness with the two gunmen covering his escape.

Minato quickly ran over to Itachi and shoved his hand on the wound. "Naruto, shoot off his lock!" Naruto ran over and carefully shot the padlock off. As the pieces fell, Itachi's body slowly fell into Minato.

"Dad..." Naruto ran over to Sasuke who was to horror-stuck to do anything but cry and stare at his brother. Minato rolled Itachi over on his back and ripped off the jacket to see the wound had completely bleed onto the shirt. "Dad..."

"It's going to be okay, he's not dead." Minato said calmly pressing firmer on the wound. Naruto pulled Sasuke's lock out as far as he could and shot it. As the chains dropped to the floor Sasuke woke up from his daze and rushed to his brother's side.

"Itachi wake up!" Sasuke grabbed his shoulder like a little kid.

_They walked along the little path between the trees competition to see who could go faster. Sasuke being only ten and have much shorter legs thought he could move them more to propel himself beyond his brother, however it wasn't working as it appeared Itachi has the same idea. Itachi stopped at the big tree and placed his hand against it catching his breath for a second. Sasuke stopped just short of him and Itachi placed two fingers of his other hand on his little brothers forehead. "How many people was the Circus Maximus built to hold origionally?"_

"_150,000, but they increased it to 250,000." Sasuke sighed and stuck his tongue out. "You know schools over. I don't need to be tested on all this stuff now."_

"_I know, you're probably tired from our matches. Do you want a piggyback ride the rest of the way?" Itachi offered squatting and patting his back for Sasuke to climb up on. Sasuke grabbed his big brother around the neck and Itachi grabbed Sasuke's leg. Itachi stood back up and began walking towards their street. "You did really well in your match Sasuke. In no time you'll be a black belt like me."_

"_I really want to go into Muay Thai like that guy that performed. He was so cool." Sasuke said and smiled. "And so were you. You kicked that guy straight in the face, big brother!"_

"_It's not about fighting, Sasuke, it's about discipline. You have to train hard, work hard and have great focus. Maybe if you stop being so anxious you'll end up with a nice gold metal like me." Itachi turned his head and glanced at his brother smiling. They turned out of the park and down their street passing their neighbors houses and seeing the stray cats run all over the streets. Sasuke sighed. "What is it Sasuke?"_

"_Can we get a cat?" Sasuke asked pouting. "I want a black and white one that likes to play with toys and string."_

"_Ask dad." Was Itachi's response to everything Sasuke asked for. He lowered his head until he felt Itachi jerk. "Get down now, and stay outside."_

_Sasuke's hand unlatched as Itachi dropped his bag outside their white picket fence and went towards the open door that was only hanging by one hinge. Sasuke watched him carefully as Itachi leaned against the wall next to the door and listened for a second before sneaking into the main hallway. Itachi ducked behind the wall and looked into the main passage. It was there he saw his mother's body laying face down. A bowl of pears and apples on the floor next to her had been knocked off the table. _

_Itachi took a deep breath and heard talking down the hall. They were still here. He looked up above him to his father's ceremonial swords from when he left the Tokyo police department. Itachi grabbed one and unsheathed it heading carefully into the darkness creeping above his mother's dead body. _

_Itachi looked quietly into his father's office to see four men above his father's body. It was then they all wiped off their guns and dropped them on top of his father's head. Itachi lunged the sword foreword through the closest man's head. He pulled it out and just barely moved out of the way from being shot by one of the men who had reclaimed his gun. He slashed the next man across the chest who flung back on his father's desk. The third man Itachi stabbed straight in the chest. It was then his badge fell to the floor. Itachi stared at the golden shield and suddenly felt even more angry then he ever thought he would. He left the sword in the man and turned to the fourth person. Itachi recognized him. "You were his partner."_

"_Stupid kid..." The man held up his gun and shot again. Itachi caught the bullet in the middle of his forarm. He screamed as it shattered the bone. "You know, we were going to blame it on robbers, but I guess you work well enough. I get here to see his son finally snapped, shot his father and mother and several visiting officers."_

"_Don't you know shit? Each bullet can be traced to a single gun, you just used your issued gun to shoot them." The guy looked at him and slowly lowered the gun. "Kill me, doesn't matter. You're not getting off. You're going to the chair."_

"_Fuck you..." He looked up to the doorway to see Sasuke standing there with blood on his hands and two giant streams of tears coming down his face. Sasuke walked right over to him and grabbed his wrist. "Look kid, your brother."_

_Sasuke's other hand reached up and he snapped the man's wrist around breaking it instantly. Sasuke threw him to the floor and quickly punched him in the back of the neck as hard as he could. Itachi twitched at the sound of the bone breaking. The man lay dead on the floor. Sasuke walked over to his father and grabbed him by the shoulders starring at his face. "Dad wake up! You have to go help mommy! Dad!"_

"Dad wake up!" Sasuke screamed shaking him. Naruto heard what he said and pulled Sasuke off his brother. Sasuke tried to break out of Naruto's grip to get to his brother but the blond refused to let go.

Kisame pushed them both farther out of the way and knelt down next to Itachi. He put two giant arms underneath him and picked him up. "Naruto, go get Deidara and Sasori, tell them to meet us at Tsunade's house."

"Okay." Naruto kissed Sasuke on the side of the head and ran outside with the gun still out. He quickly found the path they went down and ran as fast as he could over rocks only to hear shooting in the general direction he was headed toward. A second later he saw Deidara and Sasori running at him. "Itachi was shot, come on. They're taking him to Tsunade's house."

"What?" Deidara asked loudly as he stopped in front of him. "Did you just say Itachi was shot?"

"Where?" Sasori asked as he pressed them foreword to the car. Naruto looked down on his own stomach and circled his left abdominal area. "He should be fine if Kisame's with him. There's nothing too bad there."

Deidara was still somewhat confused at this but followed anyway to find that the car was gone. "Oh yea... We car pooled..."

"Let's get running." Naruto said and shoved the gun away in the back of his pants. Naruto took off and left Sasori and Deidara starring at him getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

"I can't run that, not since I took my knee out last spring. Hell, I barely ran from the bullet." Sasori noted. He bent over and felt his leg. "It's as big as a grapefruit. This is going to be a huge waste of time..."

"Oh shut up. There's got to be a car we can steal somewhere around here." Deidara said and started walking towards the front entrance.

"Car stealing, that something you picked up in New York?" Sasori asked slowly trailing behind him while trying to keep pressure off his knee.


	21. Sober

Yay! I updated. It's been a while, I promise I'll try to get another one out soon. Please leave me feedback! I love you readers! 3 ~Aki

* * *

"You just have to wait. Just like a hospital. I don't want you accidentally touching the wound." Tsuande stood in the doorway of her small country home, hands on her hips and blood on her shirt. Sasuke looked down at her huffed and moved away from the door choosing to sit down next to Kisame. "You can go home. I told you if he wakes up then I will call."

"I prefer to wait." Sasuke said and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Kisame quickly grabbed them and shoved them in his pants pocket. The young Uchiha sighed. "I simply don't get a fucking break today do I?"

"I'll drive you home or to the dorms." Kisame offered. Tsuande nodded and went inside shutting the door tightly behind her. Kisame handed him back the pack and stood up. "Tsuande would kill you if you burned down this house. She has too many house fires as is."

"Fine, take me to the dorms." Sasuke said and walked off the porch without a glance back. Sasuke wasn't upset much about not being let in the house, he was upset because Sasori had gotten to go inside along with that girl in his class. Why did someone else get to go in and see his brother and not him. Sasuke flung open the side door of Kisame's old clunker and slammed it behind him. He quickly pulled out a lighter. "I fucking hate today."

"Shizune, get me more gauze, he's bleeding through." Sasori asked calmly and pressed firmly with a latex gloved hand. He held it there and watched her walk over to the little tray set up with fifty different things on it. "You know, I'm far too old for this. Next week is my fifty-seventh birthday. Fifty-seven. I'm thinking I may retire this winter."

"Really? I thought you planned to die at your desk, no offense meant." Shizune said very politely. She had only had three classes with Sasori and in all his classes he kept his distance from the students. She didn't know what she was and wasn't allowed to say to him. Sasori grabbed some gauze from her hand and set it down on Itachi and grabbed more medical tape.

"That was my plan, back before I lost my sister. When you lose a sibling, things can change. Me and my other sister both decided when she went it was time to slow things down. Especially since I've been charged with watching her children. Especially Gaara... Needs to stop antagonizing people."

"He's eighteen and filled with hormones, just give him a few years to get adjusted." Tsunade said listening in on the conversation. "He is a good kid. Makes Naruto turn in his work for once."

"Naruto just needs some time too. He's busy with Sasuke and well... um..." Shizune lifted a finger to her lips. Tsunade and Sasori both looked at her. "Well..."

"Hopefully his father can sort this out and all will be well." Sasori said and stood up striaghtly. "He's stitched together very tightly. It's dissolving surgical string, only replace if necessary."

"Thanks, Sasori. We've got it from here." Tsunade held out her hand, to which Sasori shook. "I hope we don't have to meet like this again. I'd prefer to meet over tea."

"Likewise. I rather don't like bullets." He said and took out of his pocket the one he had removed from Itachi. "I'm going to bury it in my garden. It's time I plant my mums."

"Good idea." Tsunade said. They dropped hands and nodded to each other as Sasori left the room. Tsunade waited for the door to close and turned to Shizune. "Sasuke's not allowed in here. He's a little too rough sometimes, he'll end up doing more harm than good. Understand?"

Shizune nodded quickly sitting in a chair next to his bed. "Am I taking the first watch then?"

"Yes. If he wakes up see to it he gets water first. I have to run in to the college, I'll dismiss you from tonight's class." Tsunade said and handed her some money. "If you get hungry call for pizza."

"Yes. Mam." Shizune slipped it in her purse and pulled out a book instead. Tsunade walked away as she began reading on pigs being kept as house pets.

* * *

"But why am I here?" Deidara complained. Minato, Naruto, Jiraya and Kakashi looked at him quickly. They understood his position, but didn't really seem to care at all. "I really don't need to be babysat."

"You're here because we needed a fifth for poker and it's better than sitting out on Tsunade's porch." Minato said quickly. He dealt out cards and took a swig of his beer. He made a gross face and moved it to the side. Jiraya had made the radical decision to switch the alcoholic to non-alcoholic beer. Minato was not enjoying it, but everyone else enjoyed his reaction. "I had a tequila once that tasted like this. I threw up for three days."

"Never go to Mexico to drink." Kakashi whispered and pointed his finger at Naruto. Natruto nodded a bit, but not so much to upset his father. Minato obviously hadn't heard because he was busy being upset over his hand. Jiraya and Minato quickly folded. Kakashi put a five dollar bill on the center of the table. "Five in."

Naruto and Deidara tossed in their money only to see Kakashi pull out a twenty. "Fold!"

Kakashi turned his hand around. He only had a pair of sevens. "You two aren't good at playing other people. Bluffing is something important in poker."

"I think they know that." Minato said off hand. Suddenly a lovely little piano melody filled the air. Minato quickly excused himself from the table and walked away.

Jiraiya leaned in. "That person has called four to five times a day in the past five days, I think he has a girlfriend. Never lets me hear the conversations either."

"That'd be good for him." Naruto said and suddenly his phone started to go off. He stood and held it up shrugging while he opened it. "Like father, like son. Hey Sasuke."

"Nobody ever calls me." Jiraiya complained as they watch Naruto try to move around them. Naruto walked out the back door and sat on the back concrete steps staring up at the night sky. "How is he doing?"

"I don't know, they won't tell me anything and I'm not allowed to see him." Sasuke said nearly screaming into the phone. Naruto put his hand to his forehead. "I'm going to stay the night at Black Bird. I need some calming down space."

"Do you want me to come over? I can be there in a half an hour." Naruto offered. He waited for a second on a quiet line. "Sasuke?"

"I kind of want to be alone right now." Sasuke said. "I'll call you later alright?"

"Okay. If you need me, I can come over at any time alright."

"Love you."

"Love you, too." The phone clicked in his ear. Naruto sighed and brushed off the nagging little voice in his head. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and headed back inside. Minato had rejoined the table and they were sitting there talking quietly. They looked at him.

"How's Itachi?" Deidara asked, the only one who was up to asking him that question. Naruto shrugged and moved over to his seat. He sat down and was dealt a new hand. "He'll be fine. The worst stuff always happens to him, and he always makes it through."

"It's that brother of his I'm worried about." Naruto muttered as he looked at his hand. He couldn't really care about the pair of aces and the pair of sixes. He was too busy worrying about what Sasuke might do. "I'll fold."

"I'm folding." Minato said and looked at him. "Come on, I'll crash with you guys tonight. You could probably uses some extra muscle just in case."

"Yea. Bye." Naruto said standing up with his dad. He looked at Deidara who was busy thinking about his hand. "This means you too."

"Alright. I didn't have much of a hand anyway." Deidara said. He stood up as well flipping over his hand of random low cards. They walked out muttering simple good-byes and left leaving Kakashi and Jiraiya still playing. Kakashi pulled out his 20 again and placed it on the table. Jiriaya countered it with a hundred. Kakashi looked down at it then back at Jiraiya. "That's cheating."

* * *

"No, but cream is so much better, pure white looks tacky." Tayuya suddenly stopped and nodded ahead of herself and Jugo. The door in the hallway ahead of them was slightly open and the smell creeped down the hall like it was being covered in cigarette smoke. "I take it he's upset."

"I'll go and talk to him. You go put the sample away." Jugo kissed her forehead and walked into Karin's old room. He looked around and saw the bathroom door was closed with a little bit of smoke coming out. He opened it and saw Sasuke laying in the full bathtub, naked with a cigarette loosely hanging out of his mouth and both feet up on the wall. The room was dimly lit by the window letting the moonlight flow in. Sasuke rolled his head toward the door and weakly raised his hand in recognition. Jugo walked in closing the door and opened the vent to release some of the smoke. He sat down on the toilet by Sasuke's head and scratched at his beard. "You know, I haven't been in this much smoke in a while."

"Sorry." Sasuke said, the cigarette not dropping from his mouth. He tilted his neck back to see Jugo. "How's the wedding planning going?"

"Eh... We got the fabric samples for the tables and the curtains. I thought it was supposed to be all white, apparently everything is supposed to be off-white." He said and grabbed the cigarette from Sasuke's mouth and took a long drag from it. "Would you mind if I asked Suigetsu to be my best man?"

"No." Sasuke said. He raised his hand and Jugo gave him back his cigarette. "He'd make a good best man. He'd show up on time too."

"Yea..." Jugo leaned back against the toilet's tank and stared up at the ceiling. "Do you mind me asking why you're in a bathtub smoking like a train engine?"

"Itachi was shot today. I don't know how I'm handling it, but the cigarettes are helping." Sasuke said and looked at the floor where an empty pack and a half full pack were laying next to each other. "Madara shot him, point blank. He could have killed him."

"Damn..." Jugo said and began scratching his beard again. He was having trouble finding the right thing to say to Sasuke, so he decided to go the simplest route. "Um... do you need more cigarettes?"

"If you would, there's money in my pants." Sasuke said point over at the pile of his clothes. Jugo stood up and rummaged through his pockets to pull out Sasuke's wallet. Jugo showed Sasuke one of his credit cards and walked out of the bathroom closing the door tightly behind him.

Sasuke stuck what was left of the cigarette back in his mouth and sighed closing his eyes. The images of earlier that day and of his parents murder kept rewinding through his head. All he could feel was the pain from witnessing what he loved be shot in from of him. He opened his eyes to the white ceiling above, the smoke in the air thinning around him.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and lowered his head underwater to soak. A few bubbles blew out of his nose and Sasuke looked through the waters. He was looking up into bright red eyes hovering above him. 'Itachi?' He saw a shadowy hand reach down into the tub and press on his chest. He tried to sit up but every time he did the hand pushed back and held him down. 'Is he trying to drown me?' He watched as the eyes just grew wider until he knew it was Itachi pushing him down. The person resembled him. Sasuke lurched up out of the water and looked around breathing heavily. He was the only person in the bathroom. Sasuke went to take a puff of the cigarette but found it was a pile of ashes instead. 'Was I asleep?'

He climbed out of the bathtub and felt his foot begin to slip. Grasping the sink he stood carefully trying to keep his balance. It was then he felt his knees start to shake. 'What the hell is happening?' "Tayuya!"

He held on for a second until the door opened. "What do you...? Huh? AH! Naked butt! What the Hell?"

"I need help getting to my room, my knees are giving out on me." Sasuke said in an admission of weakness. He looked around. "Can you get me to Karin's bed and hand me my pants?"

"Let me wrap you in a towel first. I know you're gay, but it's still weird." She said and opened the linen closet to grab a bright purple towel out of it. She threw it over his shoulders and carefully led him out of the room and over to Karin's bed. Sasuke half-way fell and half-way sat on the bed shaking mildly. Tayuya grabbed his pants out of the bathroom and handed them to him. "If you need help getting them on, you'll have to wait for Jugo to get back."

"Alright." Sasuke took the towel and wrapped it around himself to cover him better. He tossed his pants, getting them out straight and slipped them around his legs. He pulled them up by leaning back and tossing on the bed. He sighed and laid back completely. He saw Tayuya with a cloth dusting some of Karin's perfume bottles. "I guess you don't get to see us that often anymore."

"Yea... I'm having empty nest syndrome." Tayuya confessed. She climbed on the bed and looked at him with her knees tucked into her chest. "In all honestness, I considered you guys like my kids. So did Jugo, it's hard to have you all leave."

"Maybe we can all come back this weekend."

"That'd be super."


	22. Awake

Once again Shizune had been selected to watch over Itachi while he slept. Tsunade had smuggled some equipment with the help of Sasori so he could be injected with a water drip to keep him hydrated. She sat at the far end of the room in an old white rocking chair and doing a small needle point of two Robins dancing on a twig. It was something to focus on instead of the bland blue colors of the room or the passed out man.

She worked steadily outlining the breast on the second bird and accidentally caught her finger. She let out a small 'ow' and quickly pulled her finger away. She set the cross stitch down to the side and stuck her finger in her mouth. She applied pressure with her tongue and sighed through her nose.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just a small prick. I really need to wear a thimble." She said taking out her finger. She stared at the injury, a small little bit of blood balling up on the outside. She looked past her finger to see a face staring at her. Shizune quickly got up adjusting her skirt. She walked over to the bed and turned the drip off. "You've been out for four days."

'Four days...?' Itachi looked around. He judged by the fact that Shizune was caring for him and the house looked nice, he was at Tsunade's house. It also smelled of Sake. "What happened?"

"Your uncle shot you. You don't remember?" He shook his head at her, eyes only half open. Shizune grabbed a little cloth of gaze and some tape. She pressed the gauze down on his arm and pulled the line from him slowly. She taped it down and began removing the line and bag. "What do you remember?"

"I remember going someplace with Sasuke..." Itachi muttered. He watched as Shizune moved the stand into the corner along with what looked like a very old EKG machine. "How did he end up shooting me?"

"I think Tsunade said you walked into a trap. You were poisoned, tied up and Madara shot you point blank. That's what Sasuke said at least." Shizune then got a dumbstruck look on her face. She grabbed a plastic bag in the corner and set it on the bed. "I've got to call her so she can come take a look at you before you leave. Here, Kisame brought you a spare outfit, you kept bleeding out."

"Oh, thanks." Shizune walked out of the room her heels clicking on the wooden floor. She closed the door most of the way and walked a little way away from that. Itachi pulled the bag closer to him and began going through items. Kisame had just tossed in some pants, a shirt and a pair of boxers.

Itachi rolled on his side and propped himself up. Resisting the urge to scream he stood up using his hand to grab the bed post. He began waddling over to the side door where he could clearly see a bathroom sink. He caught the door frame and pushed himself to the sink and the counter. He grabbed it and looked at himself in the mirror. His face was drained and white. It was almost as white as the fresh gauze that was on his stomach. He sighed and made his way over to the toilet.

"Hi Tsunade, he's awake. Okay, yes, I don't think that will be a problem." Shizune said in the hall. Her mentor kept going on about what she should be doing now that he was awake. Shizune just rolled her eyes and paced already having done half of the list already. After a few minutes Shizune was allowed to say good bye and hang up the phone. She walked back inside the room and saw Itachi struggling to laid back down on the bed. "Tsunade's asked that you rest until she gets here, you might want to stretch a bit though. I also wouldn't recommend calling your brother quite yet, he'll demand to see you."

"Is he okay?" Itachi asked. He adjusted his torso quickly and let out a quick painful groan. Shizune quickly grabbed a syringe and filled it from a small bottle of painkillers.

"Oh, yes. He came out unscathed, you were the only person injured as I understand it." She pulled the bottle away and sat down on the edge of the bed looking at his arm. She found a vein and stuck it in. She pressed down on the end, watched him clench and pulled the syringe out. "I'm Shizune by the way, Tsunade's assistant."

"I know, we had files on everyone two years ago." He said. He watched as her face became a little bland, as if it wasn't something she wanted to think on. "I'm Itachi."

"I know. We kept files too." She took a minute to herself to recompose and stuck out her hand smiling. "Nice to meet you."

Itachi raised his hand and grabbed her's. "Likewise."

"Sasuke... Is my bathtub really the best place for you?" Karin asked stepping into her old bathroom. Sasuke reached up and turned off the tub faucet. He had been replacing the water every half an hour to keep it warm. Karin placed a couple towels on the rack, put the toilet lid down and sat down, her legs crossed at the ankle. She stared at him for an answer.

"Yes." Sasuke picked up another cigarette off the floor and lit it with the lighter he kept on the side of the clawfoot tub. He stuck it in his mouth and sank down so his face was just above the water.

Karin sighed and looked around the floor. He had three empty cartons and dozens of empty boxes on the floor, along with a half empty carton his was making his way through. She thought for a minute and looked at him. "Did you really go through a carton a day?"

Sasuke had to get up to look over the edge of the tub and count the boxes. He took a second and nodded. "Yes."

"Do you know you're likely to get cancer in your mid-thirties?" Karin growled at him. Sasuke pulled himself up and flipped over so his head and arms draped over the side of the tube. "You've already been experimented on."

"I don't know if I am... I'm going to assume so though, so yes." Karin sighed, she rolled her eyes and looked away at the purple tiling. Karin sighed once more and pushed herself up onto her heels. She grabbed the still burning cigarette from his hand and threw it in the tub behind him. "We're here to spend time with Jugo and Tayuya, not smoke in my bathtub."

"Fine." Sasuke took a deep breath in and placed both hands on the tub side pushing himself up onto his feet. Karin handed him a towel avoiding looked directly at him and walked out into her bedroom where he had left his clothes.

"You haven't even left Black Bird in days." Karin said. She then looked on the bed at his phone. She picked it up and pressed a button making the phone turn on. "Or answered your phone apparently."

"Yeah, no one important has called." Sasuke muttered. He finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He stepped out of the tub and drained it. "I figured the less stress I have..."

"You're brother called twice an hour ago." Sasuke stopped for a second. He ripped his hand from the water and ran next to her. He took the phone from her hands and stared at the screen.

"Itachi?" He read the top two names, both said 'Ita'. Sasuke let out a little happy noise and smiled. "He's awake."

Karin suddenly noticed the towel dropped. She quickly hit Sasuke on the head and turned around. "PUT PANTS ON! You need some modesty!"

"He's still not answering? Maybe he's been in the shower." Shizune suggested. She looked up the stairs and watched as Itachi struggled down them. He had refused both her and Tsunade's help down, insisting he would be fine. He gripping the railing tighter as he came closer to the bottom and the struggle became harder. Upon reaching the bottom step he sat down and caught his breath in giant gasps.

"Possibly, probably more like a bathtub." He said exhausted. He pulled out his phone and checked it again. Still nothing from Sasuke. He put his phone away and cursed to himself inside his head. "That's fine, I only live three miles from..."

"Come on, I'll drive you." Shizune said and offered one of her hands to him. He shook his head. "I insist, you're not looking so well."

"No it's fine. It's farther from town." He said trying to make excuses. He looked down at his feet, a few spots of blood were on the dirt covered tennis shoes. He took a deep breath and stood on his own accord.

"It's no problem." Shizune stepped out of the way so he could stumble into the living room. It was then Tsunade walked into room with a large glass in her hand filled with what could be assumed as alcohol. "You're unfit to walk too far."

"You should listen to her." Tsunade said. She sat down in a white wicker chair and picked up a magazine off her side table. "She won't stop pestering you until you let her help you, kind of like an accident lawyer."

"Oh, Ms. Senju... I'm not that bad." Shizune said embarrassed. She waved it off and laughed nervously. "I'll be at the office first thing in the morning to catch up on my paperwork."

"No need, when Naruto found out you were here watching Itachi, he volunteered to do it all for you. He messed a lot of it up, but I fixed it." Tsunade took the first sip of her drink and set it down. She opened up her magazine and looked at Shizune. "I'll see you on Monday morning."

"Yes. Bye." Shizune said with a smile. She turned to Itachi to wait to see what he would do.

With a little bit of indignity about having her take him he bowed his head slightly to Tsunade. "Thank you."

"Bye." She said glancing up from the page. She went back to her house magazine and read the pages happily.

Shizune lead Itachi to the front door and held it open for him. He walked past her slowly and stepped out onto the deck. "You're friends with Naruto then?"

"Yes. I've known him since he was fourteen, I used to watch him for Tsunade and Jiraiya when they went out drinking together." Shizune said. She stepped out onto the porch as well and closed both doors behind her. Shizune then headed off the side towards a small silver car parked a few feet away. "I take it you used to have a file on him before he and Sasuke began dating?"

"Yes." Itachi slowly began to make his way over to the end of the porch, one hand supporting him on the exterior wall. "We even attempted to kill him once."

"No offense, but you're uncle is crazy. I can't believe they haven't caught him yet." Shizune said. She unlocked the passenger door and opened it. She then walked over to the two stairs leaning down and offered her arm as a brace.

"He's sneaky." Itachi gripped onto her arm and lowered himself down the first step.

"I can't believe they haven't caught you yet." Orochimaru said and took a sip of his tea. He set the white cup down on it's plate and stared across at Madara who was enjoying a cup of coffee. Kabuto stood to the side, bored, playing with the silver serving tray.

"I know, it's like they're not even trying for me. You know yesterday I went grocery shopping, not a single person recognized me." Madara admitted. He held his cup with both hands in his lap, one leg crossed over the other. They both turned as the doors to the old factory opened.

"Still none of his DNA." Hidan said and tossed a bag full of beer bottles down, most shattered inside it. "Fucker never even touched them with his lips."

"Also, we tracked Sasuke down like you asked, he's staying at that old building they fixed up." Kakuzu said. He walked over to Madara and handed him some photos. "He hasn't left in four days."

"You know, I gave him a mansion, you'd think he'd use it!" Madara said disappointed. He took a gulp of his coffee and looked over to Orochimaru. "Everything you give them and it's never enough."

"Kids, they're spoiled these days." Orochimaru said trying to make it better for him. He turned to Kakuzu and tilted his head. "Could you find out how Itachi is doing?"

"All we know is he was staying somewhere in the country. Everytime we went to try and track it down we ran into Kisame and Deidara, both with shotguns." Kakuzu said and sat down next to Madara on the couch. "I think they're mad at us."

"Probably, I did shoot him." Madara took another gulp of his coffee.


End file.
